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TTLE LIVES OF GREAT MEN 





GEORGE WASHINGTON 
From the painting by Gilbert Stuart 



Little Lives of Great Men 

WASHINGTON 

A VIRGINU CAVALIER 



By 

WILLIAM H. 



MACE 



Author of "Stories of Heroism," "The Story 

of Old Europe and Young America,'* 

"Lincoln: The Man of the People" 



WITH 
5 HALF-TONE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM 
PHOTOGRAPHS AND 6o PICTURES BY 

HOMER W. COLBY 




Chicago New York London 

RAND McNALLY&CO. 



WASHlNGlOWiAtiA 



Copyright, 1916, 
By William H. Mace 




FEB 18 1916 



iaA4l888(> 



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2 



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In memory of 

Nancy Johnson Mace 

and 

RosENA Jenkins Dodson 

Who love home and family 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Introduction to the Series .... 

A Preface for People to Read . 

The Men Who Fought Cromwell 

Boyhood and Early School Days . 

Early Life at Mount Vernon. 

The Boy Who Wants to Go to Sea Goes 

Back to School . 
Mount Vernon., Belvoir, and Green 

WAY Court 

Great Responsibilities Fall Upon 

Young Washington's Shoulders 
Washington Goes to See the French 
Virginia Sends Washington Forward 
An Aide to General Braddock 
Washington in the Last Campaign 

against Fort Duquesne 
Love and Marriage . 
Old Days at Mount Vernon 
The Mutterings of a Storm 
The Storm Begins to Break 
Independence Forever! . 
The Campaign for the Middle States 
Redeeming the South .... 



PAGE 

ix 

xi 

I 

4 

9 

19 

28 

42 
46 

53 

57 

64 
66 

75 
84 

93 

103 

105 
119 



VIX 



viii George Washington 



PAGE 



The Final Victory at Yorktown . 124 
Washington Says Good-By . . . .131 
The Confederation Prepares Its Own 

Death 140 

Washington Points the Way to a 

Constitution 143 

Foreign Relations 161 

Washington's Farewell . . . .162 
At Home Once More 167 

A Chronology of the Life of George 

Washington lyd 

A Reading List 180 



INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES 

THE beneficent reaction of hero-worship on the 
character of the boy-idolator begins when first 
the lad reahzes that his ideal of manhood has been 
subject to all the average boy's handicaps, has been 
"in all points tempted" as he is, but has risen superior 
to the multitude of life's physical, mental, and moral 
dijfficulties. At that moment is born the inspiration, 
followed by the earnest purpose, "to go and do like- 
wise." The loftier his model, the higher his aim, the 
more strongly is the lad vitalized, energized, uplifted. 

On the other hand nothing can so deaden a boy's 
ambition, as the belief that the object of his admiration 
lived and fought and achieved in an atmosphere 
unshared by him, and possessed abilities and opportu- 
nities he is denied. With such a belief the youth 
stumbles through year after year of his school career 
with no realization of the joy of building stone by stone 
the foundation of an impregnable life-structure. To 
him remain unseen the possibilities which may be 
grasped and opened up through the study of happily 
written biographies of world-toilers who had blood and 
brawn and fire, who being dead yet speak because of 
the inherent power of a commanding personality, a 
mighty will, and a never dying spirit. Why is this so? 

Primarily, because the majority of biographies have 
been written for mature minds, and deal with those 
aspects of their subject's public career which appeal 
only to adult students. They carry no heart message 
to the boys of fifth or sixth grade, for they are beyond 

IX 



^ George Washington 

their comprehension both in style and matter. Biog- 
raphy exerts no permanent influence for good on the 
child unless by intimacy with and understanding of 
boy nature, it grips him so firmly and implants a 
tenacity of purpose so strong that he is undaunted in 
endeavor to emulate and even to outstrip his ideal. 

To accomplish this end is the primary object of the 
"Little Lives of Great Men." It is their aim so to 
bring biography to the plane of understanding of the 
child at his most impressionable age, that there will 
follow appreciation not only of the outstanding ac- 
complishments of these great men but of the impulses 
and principles which are the guiding and controlling 
factors in the lives of all the great and good. 

The fifth and sixth grades are counted the Heroic 
Period in the lives of school boys and girls, and since 
psychology, pedagogics, and child study have made 
apparent this fact, those who have at heart the highest 
welfare of the young are endeavoring so to shape school 
book and curriculum that lasting results may be 
obtained through the child's natural interests. The 
authors of this series hope these little books will 
render some service to the cause of education by appeal- 
ing to the higher nature and molding hitherto undevel- 
oped faculties in the pupils of the middle grades. By 
awakening their perceptions, stimulating their instinct 
for individuality, and quickening their efforts to attain 
unto the measure of the stature of the high examples of 
manhood outlined therein, the "Little Lives of Great 
Men" are calculated to drive telling blows deep into 
the inner consciousness of the children, and effectually 
to rouse into vigorous action forces that may yet be 
felt around the world. 



A Preface for People to Read 

** IV TOBODY reads a preface," some one has 

1^ said. It is hoped that this one will 
appeal to young hearts whether they 
beat in old or youthful breasts. 

The purpose of the author has been not to 
lay stress upon the so-called "true George 
Washington," or the great planter as he over- 
saw his plantation or read the London markets ; 
not even to lay emphasis on the great soldier 
as he flamed forth in war, or the first president 
as he marked the pathway of the new republic. 

The chief aim has been to point out those 
qualities which en^deared him to his generation, 
to the end that boys and girls may have 
stirred in them some of the affection and 
admiration accorded Washington by those 
of his own time. 

This is no easy task. Americans have 
placed Washington on a pedestal. Some 
of his biographers have idealized him so that 
he seems a demi-god. Others, in trying to 
avoid this mistake and give a true story, have 
been too realistic and have pictured only 
that which was commonplace in his life, 
calling attention to little human weaknesses 
which at certain times and under some circum- 
stances he gave expression to. But you can 
no more tell a true life story of a man by 
magnifying his faults than by overrating 
his virtues. 

xi 



%ii A Preface for People to Read 

Between the two Washingtons is the 
plain, simple-minded, dignified man, whom 
relatives, neighbors, and friends all loved. 
This view of Washington may not be a com- 
plete view, but it is one that boys and girls 
ought to enjoy. 

Washington, as a pupil at school, was a 
genuine boy. He played with vim and studied 
hard. He felt strange emotions for the 
gentler sex. Sometimes a pair of bright 
eyes slipped between his studies and his 
thoughts. To-day he marshals his boy com- 
panions in a mimic charge, and to-morrow he 
will ride on errands to distant plantations. 
This is the boy at sixteen, whom Lord Fairfax 
sent with companions across the mountains 
to survey his lands. 

There runs throughout his experiences a 
vein of fun and frolic, even through the storm 
and stress of war and the more critical days 
of starting a new republic on its journey. 
Always his love for the lighter and brighter 
side of life is manifest. In his whole diary 
there is no word of complaint except when 
he recalls more than once the difficulty of 
finding some particular kind of food for his 
company. Mount Vernon became the Mecca 
for friends, old soldiers, authors, and statesmen 
and for the greatly beloved Lafayette. 

W. H. Mace 

Syracuse University 

November, 1915 



• 



WASHINGTON 

A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 
The Men Who Fought Cromwell 

NEARLY a hundred years before our 
hero was born his forefathers were 
swept into the colony of Virginia by the 
great wave of CavaHer migration. 

The CavaHers were a noble band of 
people who had fought bravely in England 
for their king and church. But the 
mighty Puritan general, Cromwell, had 
triumphed over the Cavaliers, and had 
captured the king and put him to death. 
Hundreds of Cavaliers then sought in Vir- 
ginia safety from the fury of the Puritan 
soldiers. These Cavalier settlers were 
well to do; they had large farms, lived 
in good homes, and were people of elegant 
manners. Virginia received them with 
open arms. 



George Washington 



The name of Washington had been well 
known in the war between Cavaliers and 









,^"^^^-•^-V^\K'^■.*^^■■■^■-■— ^--~ " — ^''■- .,'C,--^^ 

Sulgrave Manor, the ancestral home of Washington in 
Northamptonshire, England 

Puritans. Colonel Henry Washington won 
name and fame for himself in this war. 
He was in command of the king's men at 
Worcester when Lord Fairfax demanded 
the surrender of that town, and his brave 
answer to the demand compelled the 
granting of easy terms. 

John Washington, a Cavalier and a 
relative of Henry Washington, came to 
Virginia to make his way in the New World. 
He was full of energy, and very soon began 



A Virginia Cavalier j 

to get a foothold in the colony. His 
neighbors liked him, made him colonel 
in an Indian war, and elected him to the 
House of Burgesses to help make the laws 
of Virginia. To honor his public and 
private virtues the parish in which he 
lived was named Washington Parish. 

Augustine, one of the grandsons of 
John Washington, was also full of vigor 
and got on well. He owned five thousand 
acres of land and had many slaves to 
work for him. Besides, he was part owner 
of the iron mines of Maryland and Virginia, 
and was captain of the ship which carried 
iron ore to London. 

In London he met Mary Ball, a Virginian 
visiting friends. Her father's estate in 
Virginia was called Epping Forest, as a 
reminder of that famous old forest near 
London, and, because of her beauty, Mary 
was called *'the rose of Epping Forest." 
Augustine, a widower with two children, 
fell in love with this bewitching young 
lady and married her. Mary Ball Wash- 
ington was the mother of our hero. 



4 George Washington 

Boyhood and Early School Days 

On February 22, 1732, George Washing- 
ton first saw the light of day. The first 
signs of gentle spring were beginning to 
awake in all Atlantic Virginia, and the 
first songs of returning birds were adding 
their music, as if in honor of the event. 

It was a happy time to be born, and a 
happier time for Augustine and Mary 
Washington, because this lively little 
Cavalier was the first child that had come 
to. make life brighter in their home on 
Bridges Creek. This early home of the 
Washingtons bore the good old English 
name of Wakefield, and was located on 
the Potomac. From the gentle hillslope 
where the house stood one could see the 
wooded Maryland shore, broken here 
and there by some great plantation, or 
farm, which swept down to the lazily 
flowing Potomac. 

It v/as a strange world into which young 
Washington was born. America was a 
new country. The thirteen colonies had 




MARY BALL, "THE ROSE OF EPPING FOREST'* 
From a painting in the collection of C. F Gunther 



A Virginia Cavalier 5 

not yet all been settled. Virginia, the 
oldest colony, had been settled only about 



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The site of Washington's birthplace. In the distance, beyond 
the broad Potomac, lies the Maryland shore 

one hundred and twenty-five years. Men 
were still living who could remember 
when the armies of Bacon and Berkeley 
fought each other. In the whole of 
Virginia there were not more than one 
hundred twenty thousand people, who 
lived for the most part along the seacoast 
and along the great rivers which flowed 
into Chesapeake Bay. 

The Virginians had all come from 

2 



6 George Washington 

England and dearly loved the motherland 
and all things made there. They built 
their homes on rivers or near the sea, in 
order that ships coming from the old 
English home might land .at their own 
doors, leave what had been ordered from 
London merchants, and take on board 
tobacco and wheat raised by the planters. 
It was a happy time for the young folks 
when the great ship came sailing up to 
their own wharf to land the beautiful 
furniture for the ''great house," and 
those fine things young folks like to see 
and wear. It was indeed a gala day in 
the quiet life of the plantation if the ship 
brought home some absent brother or 
sister, or brought letters and gifts from 
their kinsmen in the old English home 
nest. 

After unloading, the ship sailed up the 
river to other plantations. In a week 
or two she came back and stopped for 
loading. This was a busy time on the 
old plantation. The tobacco and wheat 
which had been raised had to be sent to 




The great ship from England at a Virginia plantation wharf 



8 George Washington 

the great London merchants. The slaves 
were kept at work rolling great barrels of 
tobacco and carrying bags of wheat on 
board. The white folks were busy making 
out their orders for next year, and writing 
letters of business or pleasure to people 
across the sea. 

When everything was ready the ship 
spread her white sails and flew away like 
a great bird. Many a Virginia lad longed 
to go on board and sail away too. 

All Virginia was thickly wooded in that 
far-away time, except the parts on which 
the planters raised their crops. So dense 
were these gigantic forests that they often 
shut out the sun and shut off one planta- 
tion from another. When people wished 
to visit neighbors or go on errands, they 
had either to use the rivers or ride on 
horseback. 

George Washington grew up like the 
sons of other Virginia planters with a 
"colored mammy" to watch over him, and 
looked up to with open-mouthed wonder by 
the many "pickaninnies" playing about. 



A Virginia Cavalier Q 

When George was a bit over three years 
old the house that had seen his birth 
burned down. 

The family now moved to Hunting 
Creek, a plantation also on the Potomac. 
This new home was a most beautiful spot 
and later was given the name Mount 
Vernon, in honor of a brave old English 
sea captain. 

Early Life .at Mount Vernon 

No doubt George remembered some of 
the most striking events of his life here, 
for he was seven years old when his 
parents left this plantation and went to 
live opposite the quiet town of Fred- 
ericksburg on the Rappahannock. The 
plantation was called Ferry Farm. The 
house stood quite a distance back from 
the river on a bluff, or ridge. A beautiful 
stretch of meadow land ran down from 
the house to the river's edge. Here the 
Washington children played with their 
companions. 



10 George Washington 

This was the boyhood home that Wash- 
ington best remembered. It was not a 
grand home Hke the homes of some of 
the richest, but was "a story and a half 
house" with a low, sloping roof on one side. 
At each end stood a large chimney, as if 
guarding the house from harm, but really 
to furnish two great open fireplaces to 
keep the home warm and cheerful. There 
were no carpets on the floor, and the 
furniture was plain. 

A short time after moving to Ferry Farm, 
George was sent to a school kept by 
Mr. Hobby, a sexton of the church. He 
was a poor sort of teacher, for he did not 
know much more than a little reading, 
writing, and, perhaps, "ciphering." Good 
schools were scarce everywhere in America 
in that early time, and particularly so 
in Virginia. 

In Mr. Hobby's school was another lad 
who became famous in after days, — 
Richard Henry Lee. He and George 
were good friends and very early began 
to write to each other. Here are two 



A Virginia Cavalier ii 

letters supposed to have been written 
by them at the age of nine. 

Richard Henry Lee to George 
Washington: 

Pa brought me two pretty books 
full of pictures. He got them in 
Alexandria they have pictures of dogs 
and cats and tigers and elefants and ' 
ever so many things cousin bids me 
send you one of them it has a picture 
of an elefant and a little Indian boy 
on his back like uncle jo's sam pa says 
if I learn my tasks good he will let 
uncle jo bring me to see you will you 
ask your ma to let you come to see me. 

George Washington to Richard 
Henry Lee: 

Dear Dickey, I thank you very 
much for the picture book you gave 
me. Sam asked me to show him the 
pictures and I showed him all the 
pictures in it; and I read to him how 
the tame elephant took care of the 
master's little boy, and put him on 



12 George Washington 

his back and would not let any one 
touch his master's little son. I can 
read three or four pages sometimes 
without missing a word. Ma says 
I may go to see you, and stay all 
day with you next week if it be not 
rainy. She says I may ride my pony 
Hero if Uncle Ben will go with me 
and lead Hero. . . . 
Your good friend, 

George Washington 
It would not take the sharp eyes of a 
school teacher to discover that these 
letters were written under different 
circumstances. Young Lee's letter was 
written without help, while young Wash- 
ington's was carefully corrected. Lee be- 
came famous, in after days, as a writer of 
good English. 

George's father and mother believed in 
boys going to school. When George was 
but seven or eight years old his half- 
brother, Lawrence, came back from 
London, where he had spent the entire 
year in the same school in which his father 



A Virginia Cavalier ij 

had studied as a young man. There, in 
Mr. Appleby's school, Lawrence had 
received the ''finishing touches" belonging 
to a Cavalier of good breeding. Besides, 
Lawrence was the eldest son, and, accord- 
ing to an old English custom, when his 
father died he would become "the head 
of the family." To get ready for this 
position Lawrence had been sent to 
England. 

George was proud of his brother and 
looked upon him as a hero, as a young 
man who knew the polite manners of 
London and the Old World, and as one 
whom all Virginians were bound to respect. 
Lawrence was quick to see in the sturdy 
boy those gifts which gave great promise 
for the future. He took care that they 
were given the right bent. It is this 
interest and pride in his little half-brother 
that speaks to us so highly of the noble 
character of Lawrence Washington. 

Lawrence Washington seemed to have 
in him som_e of the fighting blood of 
Colonel Henry Washington and of his 



14 



George Washington 



great-grandfather, John Washington. He 
was only twenty-two when, as captain 
of Virginia riflemen, he led his company 
in a famous charge in the West Indies. 
Only one half of the twelve hundred men 
who charged the Spanish fort were left 
to tell the awful tale. By his bravery, 
Lawrence had won the high regard of 
Admiral Vernon, who was in command of 
the warships England had sent there. 

While Lawrence was away fighting the 
Spaniards, George, too, caught the war 




Young Washington drilling the schoolboys 



A Virginia Cavalier 15 

spirit. He had seen his brother get 
ready for war and had eagerly seized 
at every hint in his letters telling of a 
soldier's life. He turned his schoolmates 
into soldiers and drilled them, using 
cornstalks for guns. He divided them 
into hostile companies, and when all was 
ready there came the mimic charge! 
Boys took as much interest in play battles 
then as in football now. Every boy in 
Virginia expected to be a soldier some 
day and fight the Indians, the French, 
and the Spaniards. 

Before George was twelve he was called 
to mourn the death of his father. It was 
a severe blow to the boy to be without 
his father's advice in those fateful years 
when the tendency of a full-blooded boy 
is to break away from parental control. 
But, fortunately for George, Mary Wash- 
ington rose to the occasion. She was a 
strict mother — the kind needed by that 
household of growing, restless children 
whose animal spirits pulled hard against 
authority. Mary Washington won the 



1 6 George Washington 

respect of her children and guided them 
with and a firm, wise hand. 

No doubt George Washington loved 
his mother dearly, but no one would guess 
it who has ever seen one of his letters to 
her. In Virginia, in those old days, it was 
fashionable for a son to address his mother 
in a very formal and stiff way. Any 
other way than ''Honored Madam" in 
opening, and ''Your dutiful son" in 
closing a letter would have been rude and 
impolite. This gives us a glimpse into 
the stiff atmosphere in which George 
grew up. When he was presented to 
any one for the first time he had to bow 
very low, and if he were wearing a hat 
he took it off and held it under his arm 
or by his side. If presented to a young 
woman she curtsied very low also. Young 
people followed pretty strictly the manners 
of their elders. 

Two very striking traits George inherited 
from his mother : silence, and the power to 
command. These traits marked his mother, 
it is said, in a high degree. Certainly 



A Virginia Cavalier ly 

Washington was born to command, talked 
very little, and made but few speeches 
even as a man. 

By the will of George's father the 
greater part of his property went to Law- 
rence as the eldest son. To him was 
given that splendid plantation lying on 
the west bank of the Potomac called 
Hunting Creek, George's second boyhood 
home. To his brother Augustine was 
given the old Wakefield home, and to the 
mother, Ferry' Farm, where George and 
the family lived. 

An interesting event now occurred in 
the Washington fortunes. Lawrence fell 
in love with Anne Fairfax, daughter of 
William Fairfax, and married her. Now 
it was Thomas Fairfax, granduncle of 
Anne Fairfax's father, who had demanded 
the surrender of Worcester in the wars 
between Cavaliers and Puritans when 
Colonel Henry Washington made the bold 
answer that he would make good the trust 
the king had given into his hands. Thus 
were married in Virginia, one hundred 



i8 George Washington 

years afterward, the children of forefathers 
who had fought on opposite sides in the 
wars between the king and the Puritans. 

Meantime, George's mother had sent 
him back to Bridges Creek, his birthplace, 
to live in the home of his half-brother, 
Augustine Washington, and to attend 
school. His mother knew it was not best 
to keep the boy tied too closely to her 
apron strings. Although George was her 
eldest son, and her favorite, she never 
gave him the least sign of her feeling 
toward him. 

In Mr. Williams' school George studied 
hard for a boy full of animal spirits. 
Some of the boyish results of those school- 
days have come down to us. They may 
now be seen safely kept by the government 
in Washington. One of them, a ciphering 
book, contains his early efforts at writing, 
and those other "play" exercises, dear to 
the heart of every schoolboy — pen pictures 
of birds and of the faces of his schoolmates. 

Before he was thirteen George had made 
very exact copies of all kinds of mercantile 



A Virginia Cavalier IQ 

papers, legal forms, bills of sale, land 
warrants, notes, deeds, and wills. This 
was his way of getting ready for the 
business of a great plantation. 

The Boy Who Wants to Go to Sea 
Goes Back to School 

George was big of bone, strong of 
muscle, and much larger for his age — 
fourteen — than boys usually are. He had 
already thought- of what he wanted to do 
when he became a man. No doubt 
many "councils of war" were held in his 
household over the question of what the 
lad was best fitted for or wanted to do. 
At least, we know that at the age of 
fourteen George was all excitement over 
the plan of going to sea. He recalled 
the stirring days when Lawrence went on 
board the ship bound for war, and those 
quieter days when the great merchant 
ship sailed up to their own wharves at 
Bridges Creek or at Mount Vernon. And 
the tales of the sailors! Did they not 



20 



George Washington 



stir the heart of many a Virginia lad? 
George was no exception. He dreamed 
of the day when, in the uniform of an 
officer, he would proudly walk the deck 
of one of the king's great warships. 

It has been shown how natural it was 
for Virginia boys to talk and play war. 
King George's War was then raging in the 
Old World between the English and the 
French, and it was quite the proper thing, 
in those old days, for their children to go 
to fighting in America too. George wanted 
to go, but was too young for the army. 




Dreaming of a seaman's life 



A Virginia Cavalier 21 

Lawrence knew many officers in the navy 
and, it is said, encouraged George by 
getting papers for him that gave him 
the rank of midshipman in the navy. It 
is further said that a warship lay at 
anchor in the Potomac, near by, and that 
George even had his luggage on board, 
when his mother's heart failed her at 
the parting, and she wished him not to 
go. George obeyed. 

Mrs. Washington had just received a 
letter from Joseph Ball, her brother in 
England, who said: ''Don't let him go 
to sea. Make a tinker or a tailor of him, 
or anything that will keep him on shore. 
A sailor on one of these trading vessels 
is worse off than one of your negro slaves. 
He is kicked and cuffed and robbed and 
beaten : not a dog but has an easier time." 
Joseph Ball thought George was going as 
a simple sailor before the mast on a mer- 
chant ship, while the story says he was to 
be a midshipman on a man-of-war. How 
it would have changed this story if George 
had gone to sea, and how it would have 
3 



22 George Washington 

changed the history of America had he 
spent his Hfe on a British man-of-war! 

George went back to Mr. WilHams' 
school and worked harder than ever. He 
Hked mathematics better than other sub- 
jects, because it gave rules for land 
surveying, in which he took particular 
delight. But not in books alone did he 
find all the things he learned. He was 
a strong, powerful boy, and a leader 
among the boys of the country round 
about in athletic sports. He could out- 
walk, outrun, outjump, out wrestle, and 
outride the best of them. He was skilled 
in pitching quoits and throwing stones. 
Near Fredericksburg, at the lower ferry, a 
place is still pointed out where he threw 
a stone across the Rappahannock River. 
He was frequently called upon to settle 
disputes among his fellows — a fact which 
shows that they trusted his judgment and 
his honesty. 

Some pastimes common to Virginia 
boys then are rather uncommon now. 
At an early age George, like other Virginia 



A Virginia Cavalier 23 

boys, had been given a norse for his very- 
own. He took great pride in his horse. 
He caught him in the pasture when he 
wanted to ride. This happened very 
often, for it was far to the neighbors where 
he sometimes rode on errands for his 
mother, and he loved to ride for fun and 
froHc. He rode to school, and to church 
on Sundays. A Virginia boy without a 
horse could hardly be the son of a planter. 

Young Washington was just the boy to 
break his mother's colts. The "breaking" 
was dangerous business, but George was 
never wanting in courage. The break- 
ing consisted in mounting a colt and 
riding it in spite of its efforts to throw^ 
the rider. The colt was held by his 
brothers or some friend until George had 
mounted it. Then away it flew, running 
at breakneck speed, kicking, jumping, and 
rearing in its efforts to throw its rider. 
This went on until the colt was tired out 
and stopped. From then on, it could be 
mounted without danger. 

From late fall until early spring fox 



24 



George Washington 



hunting was the favorite outdoor sport in 
Virginia. Men and women, well mounted, 

answering the 
call of horn 
or conch 
shell, gathered 
at break of 
day. When 
all was ready, 
the horn again 
sent its re- 
sounding 
notes over the 
Potomac and 
among the 
hills. The 
hounds, full of the spirit of the chase, made 
answer with voices tuned like bells, and 
broke away, each trying to find the telltale 
scent of the fox. When the fox was well 
*'up," the young people followed close 
after the bellowing hounds. George was 
now old enough to take part in the sport, 
and, mounted upon his favorite horse, 
he went sweeping along at full speed. 




With his dog and gun George explored 
the woods for miles 



A Virginia Cavalier 25 

He was always in at the death of the fox. 

Besides such pastimes, there was deer 
hunting, and the hunting of smaller game, 
such as the turkey and the squirrel. 
George was skilled in all these sports, for 
he knew the haunts and the habits of 
these animals and was a sure shot with his 
long rifle. 

With his dogs and gun he could go miles 
and miles into the woods in search of game, 
and get back in safety. Only the sharpest 
ears could hear his steps, though the 
ground were covered with leaves and brush, 
for his step was silent as an Indian's and 
as graceful as a deer's. He made his way 
through dense Virginia forests without so 
much as disturbing a partridge on her 
nest. 

No art or craft of the woodsman, whether 
white man or Indian, was unknown to him. 
He could tell the way he was going by the 
sun, and on a cloudy day by the bark on 
the trees. His ears were as sharp as his 
eyes. He could remain in the woods all 
night and be safe from harm — protected 



26 George Washington 

as he was by his dogs and by the fires he 
built. He could put his ear to the ground 
and detect, far away, the coming of a 
carriage or horses along the road. 

When about the age of fifteen, George 
was taking thought concerning his con- 
versation and conduct. In a diary kept 
at this time there have been found one 
hundred ten rules bearing the odd title 
of ** Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior 
and Conversation in Company." Here 
are some of the rules supposed to have 
guided him: "Every action in company 
ought to be with some signs of respect 
to those present. Be no flatterer. Let 
your countenance be pleasant but in 
serious matters somewhat grave. Show 
not yourself glad at the misfortune of 
another, though he were your enemy. 
Let your discourse with men of business 
be short and comprehensive. When a 
man does all he can, though he succeeds 
not well, blame him not. Play not the 
peacock, looking everywhere about you 
to see if you be well decked, if your shoes 



A Virginia Cavalier 27 

fit well, if your stockings set neatly and 
that your clothes look handsomely. It is 
better to be alone than in bad company. 
Speak not evil of the absent, for it is 
unjust. Let your recreations be manful, 
and not sinful. Labor to keep alive in 
your breast that little spark of celestial 
fire called conscience." 

From these rules, written in his own 
hand, we can better judge what things 
were taking hold of George. If we examine 
the rules again we shall see plainly that 
(i) respect for others, especially the 
unfortunate, (2) curbing his pride in 
dress, (3) avoiding bad companions, (4) 
choosing the right kind of pastimes, and 
(5) being concerned about doing nothing 
against his conscience were matters of 
the greatest importance to him. 

George was not a "goody-goody" boy, 
nor was he a bad one, but he was a boy 
with strong feelings, whose temper had 
to be kept under control. He -is a promis- 
ing boy who keeps down his feelings at 
the age of fifteen. 



28 George Washington 

Mount Vernon, Belvoir, and 
Green way Court 

Not quite sixteen, George said good-by 
to school, but he did not quit studying. 
He kept at his books on surveying. He 
now went to Hve with his brother Lawrence 
at beautiful Mount Vernon. The bonds 
of affection between the two were growing 
stronger as George grew older. It was 
a fine opportunity for the boy. Lawrence 
was still an officer in the Virginia militia, 
a member of the House of Burgesses, 
belonged to the Ohio Company, and was 
often visited by officers in the king's 
army and navy. Sometimes George 
listened to the discussion of questions 
of very great importance. 

Not all his time was spent in the 
company of fine people at Mount Vernon, 
for George was still a boy, with a boy's 
love of things exciting. No doubt he 
joined heartily with the colored folks in 
their night hunts for the opossum and 
the coon, and in the fun and sport of 



A Virginia Cavalier 2g 

drawing the seine in the Potomac for fish. 

Lawrence took a fatherly interest in 
the boy's sports and pastimes. He ar- 
ranged with his old Dutch soldier, Van 
Braam, whom he had brought from the 
West Indies, to give George fencing 
lessons. George enjoyed this clashing of 
swords, and much of the dexterity and 
ease with which Washington could handle 
himself came from the lessons given by 
Van Braam. 

Not far below Mount Vernon, on the 
Potomac, lay the beautiful country-seat 
of William Fairfax. Fairfax had been an 
officer in the king's army, was a man of 
wealth and education, and dearly loved 
society. His home was called Belvoir, and 
was one of the best furnished homes in all 
Virginia. The floors were made soft to the 
foot by rich carpets, an unusual thing 
in that day. The handsome rooms were 
lighted by wax candles, and the servants 
wore uniforms when the host received his 
guests. We can well believe that this 
home was the center of a gay company. 



JO George Washington 

Into this cultivated family George was 
given a hearty welcome. Here he caught 
something of the atmosphere of Old- 
Country life. Here, too, young Washing- 
ton was thrown into the company of 
people of his own age, — among them 
George William Fairfax, just returned 
from England. 

But of all the friends he met at Bel voir 
he became most warmly attached to 
Lord Thomas Fairfax, a man of sixty, 
lately come to Virginia to look after 
family lands beyond the mountains. Lord 
Fairfax had studied at Oxford, and had 
been a soldier. 

From the first he loved young Washing- 
ton; the frank, manly ways of the boy, 
his strong, healthful person, took hold on 
this man of sixty. Lord Fairfax was a 
great fox hunter, but he found that 
George liked the pastime equally well and 
could keep his seat with the best of them. 
It was indeed a strange companionship 
between this man of sixty and the youth 
of sixteen. It exerted a lasting influence 



A Virginia Cavalier jl 

upon George. Fairfax was a man worth 
knowing. He had been the companion of 
cultivated men in London, and in his li- 
brary he had the choicest publications of 
England. He himself had helped write 
some of them. 

But Lord Fairfax saw more in this lad 
than a mere lover of outdoor sports. He 
saw wisdom unusual in one of his years. 
George was already a woodsman, as we 
have seen. He was wise in counsel and 
courageous in action, and he was strong 
and powerful for one of his age. He had 
a frank, open face, and kindly gray eyes. 
He was indeed a boy to be admired. 

Lord Fairfax now suggested to George 
that he cross the mountains into the 
valley of the Shenandoah and survey his 
Lordship's lands. These lands lay some- 
where between the headwaters of the 
Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. Like 
most boys, George was full of the love of 
adventure, and he accepted the offer. 
Had not his study of books and his 
experiences in the woods fitted him for 



32 



George Washington 



the task? So far as we know, there was 

not a moment of hesitation because of the 

wildness and danger of the undertaking. 

Numerous bands of Indians lurked 




Young Washington as a surveyor 

among the rocks and ravines, ready to 
take revenge for some real or fancied 
wrong, and wild animals roamed freely 
through the forests of their mountain 
home. Besides, springtime in upper 



A Virginia Cavalier jj 

Virginia was a period of great rains, which, 
adding to the water from the melting 
snows in the mountains, filled streams to 
their banks with a rushing tide that 
threatened death to any one trying to cross. 

But in the month of March Washington 
rode gayly forth on his first trip into the 
western wilderness. Young George Fair- 
fax and a few others were his companions. 
It was a lively company that rode the 
first day's journey of forty miles. On 
the second day' out, they reached the 
foothills of the beautiful Blue Ridge, 
crossed these mountains by riding through 
Ashby's Gap, and arrived at the shores of 
the sparkling waters of the Shenandoah 
River. The Shenandoah, in Indian lan- 
guage, means "the daughter of the stars," 
so called on account of its beauty. George 
and his friends were charmed by the 
scenes around them. They found *'the 
beautiful groves of sugar trees, and spent 
part of the day in admiring the trees and 
the richness of the land." 

For two days they buckled into the work 



J4 George Washington 

of surveying. Then they fell in with 
a backwoods captain and took lodgings 
with him. ''We got our suppers and I 
was lighted into a room and not being so 
good a woodsman as the rest of my 
companions, stripped myself very orderly 
and went into the bed (which) I found 
to be nothing but a little straw matted 
together (with) one thread-bare blanket 
with double its weight of vermin, such as 
lice, fleas, etc. I was glad to get up 
(and) put on my clothes and lay as the 
rest of my companions. . . . Had we 
not been very tired I am sure we should 
not have slept much that night. I made 
a promise not to sleep so from that time 
forward, choosing rather to sleep in the 
open air, before the fire." 

On the sixth day the party went up the 
Shenandoah to Frederickstown to meet 
their luggage. "We cleaned up," says 
Washington with a twinkle in his eye, 
"to get rid of the game we had caught 
the night before." Here we have a hint 
of the humorous, good-natured side of 



A Virginia Cavalier 55 

George's character. How this trip, with 
its ups and downs, must have strained 
the good nature of all of them! For the 
party saw plenty of rough, hard work and 
rougher ways of eating and sleeping. 
Sometimes each man, with a "split stick," 
roasted his own piece of turkey and ate it 
with the help of a pocket knife, as only 
men can who are spending days in the 
fresh air at hard work. Sometimes they 
sought a settler's cabin to escape the 
torrents of rain -which fall in Virginia in 
the early spring. But whether in the 
rude cabin or under the stars, all the men 
slept before a huge fire. 

They saw many wild animals, some of 
which they shot for food. Once they met 
a party of Indians "on the war path." 
Very likely these Indians had come from 
the Six Nations, in far-away New York. 
Sometimes the Indians traveled long 
distances from home to seek out their 
enemies. Through this very region ran 
one of the "war trails" of the Six Nations. 

These "sons of the forest" were painted 



j6 George Washington 

and feathered for war, and were easily 
persuaded to give a war dance. They 
cleared a place and in the center built a 
fire. The warriors sat in a circle while 
the orator stirred their blood by recalling 
recent victories. One of the warriors 
arose, after a time, as if from a dream, 
and began to leap and sing, being 
finally joined by the entire party of 
Indians. For music, they drummed on a 
deerskin stretched over a pot, and rattled 
a gourd containing shot. This wild scene 
in a dark woods, lighted up by fire, made 
a picture worth remembering. 

Washington noted the war dance in his 
journal. It was his first contact with the 
Indians, although he had listened often 
to tales of Indian adventures, generally of 
their cruelty. At last he had seen the 
real Indian with his war paint on! 

George wrote to one of his friends: 
"I have not slept above three or four 
nights in bed, but after walking a good 
deal all day I have lain down before the 
fire upon a little straw or fodder, or a bear 



A Virginia Cavalier jy 

skin, whichever was to be had, with man, 
wife or children, Hke dogs and cats, and 
happy is he who gets the berth nearest the 
fire." In these Hnes you can see the happy, 
vigorous boy enjoying things to the full. 

In his own w^ay Washington wrote 
down everything, on every day, just as 
it happened. This brief journal is now 
highly prized as being the first account 
of the early life of Washington, written 
by his own hand. 

Within a month he was back at Mount 
Vernon and Belvoir and had reported to 
Lord Fairfax. The old gentleman was 
delighted with the way in which George 
had done his work, and by the great stories 
the young men had to tell of the charm- 
ing Shenandoah Valley. His Lordship 
brought influence to bear .on the proper 
authorities and had Washington appointed 
a surveyor with the right to make a record 
of his work according to the laws of 
Virginia. 

This old new friend of George's was 
laying his plans well. He, too, crossed 
4 



38 



George Washington 



into the charming Shenandoah, built a 
"lodge," and named it Green way Court. 




From an old engraving 



Fox hiinling with Lord Fairfax 

It stood on a beautiful knoll overlooking 
the country round, and surrounded by 
those deep, primeval forests where grew 
the tall and graceful tulip tree — the giant 
of the forests of upland Virginia. The 
house which Lord Fairfax built was made 
of stone, with large dormer windows. 
A great stone chimney stood at either end, 
and wide fireplaces gave warmth and 
comfort to the people who lived there. 
On one side, the roof ran long and sloping, 
in the fashion of the day. 



A Virginia Cavalier jg 

It was arranged that while practicing 
his profession as surveyor young Wash- 
ington should live at Greenway Court. 
George was eager to do this, for settlers 
were pouring over the Blue Ridge and he 
found plenty of hard work to do. Besides, 
he liked Lord Fairfax's companionship. 

While the work of surveying rested at 
times, Greenway Court always bade him 
welcome. Sometimes he rode with his 
Lordship in the exciting fox chase or 
associated with- distinguished company 
from across the mountains. Greenway 
Court often resounded to the merry voices 
of its guests, and to the sound of music 
marking time for its dancers. 

Then, too, in the rainy season, Wash- 
ington found Greenway Court a quiet, 
delightful place. In the library he found 
the latest and the best papers from London. 
Sometimes he dipped into the more serious 
study of the history of England. He had 
many long conversations and discussions 
with Lord Fairfax over England's past 
and what she promised for the future. 



40 George Washington 

After all, what George learned while 
surveying lands was to be of greatest 
value to him in after life. He mastered 
the art of being a woodsman in a way 
never to be forgotten. For three years he 
lived this life, and it left its mark upon 
him. It taught him self-control. 

It is a dangerous thing to lose one's 
head or fly into a passion at any time, but 
the rough woodsmen helping him in his 
work would not have endured it for a 
moment. He controlled them because 
he first controlled himself. He had to 
be alert in mind, quick in action, and 
resolute in decision. A keen eye, a sharp 
ear, and a skillful hand often saved a 
man's life on that Virginia frontier. In 
the woods Washington had to guard his 
own life, day and night, for no man could 
tell where an Indian lurked until a gun 
flashed from behind a tree or bowlder, or a 
tomahawk struck the murderer's blow. 

Life in the woods strengthened Wash- 
ington's tendency to be silent and never 
to engage in useless conversation when 



A Virginia Cavalier 41 

facing duty. This trait endured. He 
made few speeches. He had learned that 
deeds, not words, are wanted. 

People who knew young Washington 
marveled at his strange Indian manner of 
walking. He was, while a young lad, as 
erect as an Indian and walked with his 
toes pointing, not straight ahead, but a 
bit to the right and to the left. He 
walked with the same care as did the 
Indian. Life in. the western wilderness 
not only made him independent, self- 
reliant, and thoughtful, but gave him a 
powerful physical constitution that en- 
abled him later to endure the long, con- 
tinuous strain of terrible hardships. 

Whatever changes came to this Virginia 
cavalier from living in the woods, he 
did not forget his friends across the moun- 
tains, and those loved ones on the Rap- 
pahannock and at Mount Vernon. In fact, 
he was often to be found at home advising 
with his mother about the care of the 
younger children and the management of 
her plantation. 



42 



George Washington 



Great Responsibilities Fall upon 
Young Washington's Shoulders 

In 1 75 1 Washington's life as a surveyor 
came suddenly to an end. He was called 
to Mount Vernon to take his brother 
Lawrence to a more genial climate for 
his health. He went with him to the Ba- 
hamas. Lawrence had brought the seeds 
of consumption home from the Spanish 
War. He had gone to England for relief, 
but neither England nor the warm springs 
of Virginia could do him lasting good. 




The old entrance to Mount Vernon 



A Virginia Cavalier 43 

So George hurried away with him to a 
gentler cHmate. 

The trip out, George enjoyed as only one 
could who had been shut away from the 
sea for three years. Everything was new 
— new sights, new sounds. The hopes 
of his brother's recovery, excited by the 
first touches of the balmy air of the islands, 
made sightseeing a charming pastime. 
But George and his brother did not re- 
main long in the Bahamas, for it was soon 
found that nothing could save Lawrence 
from the dread disease. They hastened 
home that he might die with eyes resting 
on his beloved Mount Vernon and upon 
loved ones gathered there. 

When the will of Lawrence Washington 
was read, George found himself bearing 
new relations to all the world. If Law- 
rence's tender little daughter should fade 
and die, then George was to own Mount 
Vernon, one of the most splendid mansions 
and plantations in all Virginia. 

Years before, when Lawrence received 
it from his father, he immediately began 



44 George Washington 

to build a stately mansion. The spot 
chosen was a hill rising from the water's 
edge many feet above the Potomac and 
overlooking the distant Maryland shore. 
Here the river sweeps in long, gentle curves 
above and below the plantation as far 
as the eye can reach. 

Lawrence patterned the house after the 
Virginian and the English houses of that 
day, and it has remained almost untouched 
to our time. He built the house two 
stories high, with two great chimneys — 
one at each end — inside of the house. 
Like all planters' homes, there was a 
great porch. This was unique in running 
the whole length of the front of the house, 
and eight grand pillars lifted the roof 
of the porch above the second story. In 
that time the mansion of Mount Vernon 
sat like a queen of beauty on her throne. 

A year before, when young Washington 
was called from happy Greenway Court 
and its delightful company to take his sick 
brother on that hopeless journey, little 
did he dream that it marked the end of 



A Virginia Cavalier 45 

his boyhood days. Not that his time of 
doing interesting things had departed, 

/I r^ 








'M»W 



West ft out of Mount Vernon and lau.n 

but play for play's sake would come no 
more as it had in the past. He must 
bear a man's part, though not yet out of 
his teens. In many ways he stood in the 
place of Lawrence Washington. By his 
brother's will he was made to answer for 
the care of Mount Vernon and the dear 
ones living there. His mother, on Ferry 
Farm, looked to him for advice in matters 
of great concern, and Governor Dinwiddle, 
who had just arrived from England, made 
him major of the Virginia militia, with 



46 George Washington 

authority to train the soldiers of eleven 
counties. In short, he had to play the 
part of a man at a man's business. 

Washington Goes to See the 
French 

Stirring times were now coming upon 
Virginia. The French were moving down 
from the Great Lakes and were taking over 
the lands along the Ohio River. Long 
before, leading Virginians under the name 
of the Ohio Company had received from 
the king a grant of half a million acres. 

George's two brothers were prominent 
members of the Ohio Company. Lawrence 
was its manager, and George, while residing 
at Mount Vernon, had listened to many 
earnest talks over plans for sending settlers 
to the source of the Ohio. While survey- 
ing land at Greenway Court he had met 
many backwoodsmen from this country in 
which his brothers had an interest, and 
had talked with fur traders who hated 
the Frenchmen with a deadly hatred. 

Governor Dinwiddle had alreadv sent 



A Virginia Cavalier 



47 




Washington's compass 



one agent to find out the intentions of the 
French, but he had become frightened and 
had turned back 
without having 
seen a French- 
man. Dinwid- 
die had enough 
Scotch blood in 
his veins to be 
resolved to order the Frenchmen away. 
While he was looking for a man to carry 
this bold message, Lord Fairfax probably 
suggested young Washington's fitness. At 
any rate, the governor's choice lighted 
on George Washington, then twenty-one 
years old. 

When we think of what George already 
knew of that wild region, his observation 
of Indian character, — their cunning and 
cruelty, — his knowledge of woodcraft and 
of the rough ways of the backwoodsman, 
we can readily see why the youth was 
selected for this gigantic task. 

George accepted the governor's com- 
mand, turned his back upon the attractions 



4S George Washington 

of Mount Vernon, and faced the respon- 
sibility like a Cavalier. With the same 
spirit as had his brother, his great- 
grandfather, and that older Washington 
in the days of Cromwell, he answered the 
call to duty backed by the same deter- 
mination that won for them and later for 
him the "Well done" of a grateful people. 

On the last day of October Washington 
received his papers from Governor Din- 
widdle commanding him to meet the 
friendly Indians in council at Logstown 
on the Ohio, push on northward to the 
French, order them from the land in the 
name of the King of England, and return 
as promptly as possible with the French 
answer. 

Washington started immediately. He 
took with him his old fencing master. 
Van Braam. In two weeks they reached 
the frontier post, Wills Creek, now Cum- 
berland, belonging to the neighboring 
colony of Maryland. Here they engaged 
Christopher Gist, a backwoodsman and 
Indian fighter who had already explored 



A Virginia Cavalier 4g 

the Ohio. He acted as guide and four 
others acted as helpers. In the last days 
of November they made their way, against 
great obstacles, to the source of the Ohio. 
Washington was busy studying the best 
location for a fort, and decided in favor 
of the point where the Allegheny and 
Monongahela unite. It turned out that 
Washington was very wise in pointing out 
the reasons why this was a good place, for 
here the French a little later built Fort 
Duquesne, and still later it became the 
site of a great city. 

The little party pressed on to Logs- 
town and met the Indian chiefs, especially 
Half-King, a brave Iroquois who became 
a faithful friend to Washington. The 
Indians told what the French were doing 
to take possession of the country and to 
seduce the red men from their friendship 
with the English. After many long 
speeches from the chiefs and Washington's 
reply, he presented them with tokens of 
English friendship, and received their 
pledges of loyalty. 



50 



George Washington 



Half-King sent four Indians to pilot 
him to the French, fifteen miles from Lake 
Erie, where they arrived on an evening in 
December, 1753. Everywhere Washing- 
ton saw signs of what the French were 
planning to do. 

These Frenchmen received Washington 
with every show of politeness, although 
they were his deadly enemies. He tried 
to hurry the business, but they only 
delayed it. Yet he was not idle, but 
when chance permitted, took notes of 
everything he saw, and ordered his men to 
do the same. It was a hard tussle. The 




j._. .. . . ^ tLwJh.Til^ 



A treacherous guide 





A Virginia Cavalier 5/ 

French tried to win his Indians with liquor, 
but Half-King did all in his power to keep 
them true to Washington. 

Finally the French gave answer to Din- 
widdle's demands, and Washington imme- 
diately set out on his return. He had a 
long way to go. The journey was full of 
dangers from accidents, from frozen rivers, 
and especially from lurking Indians in the 
pay of the French. Washington was most 
anxious to get back with his news. He 
pushed his horses'so hard that they showed 
signs of giving out. Then he put them 
under the command of Van Braam while 
he and Christopher Gist, with guns in 
their hands and packs on their backs, 
made their way on foot. 

They used an Indian as guide part of 
the way. When chance favored him 
this Indian suddenly turned and fired at 
Washington, but missed. That old back- 
woodsman, Christopher Gist, sprang upon 
the Indian in a moment, and would have 
killed him outright had not Washington 
prevented it. They dismissed the Indian, 



52 



George Washington 



plunged into the deep forest, and traveled 
all that night to be out of the Indian's way. 




A narrow escape from drowning 

They finally reached the Allegheny 
River, which they tried to cross on a 
hastily made raft. But the rushing ice 
threatened the raft and finally Washington 
and his companion were jerked overboard. 
They swam to an island and there spent 
the night. Then they hastened forward 
with all speed until they crossed the Blue 
Ridge, and in a few days familiar scenes 
again greeted their eyes. But the charm- 
ing society at Belvoir could not hold 



A Virginia Cavalier 5J 

Washington more than a day. He 
hastened forward to Williamsburg, the 
capital, and laid before Governor Din- 
widdle the French letter and a report of 
all he had seen and heard. The letter 
contained a firm refusal by the French to 
give up the region, and was practically a 
declaration of war. 

Vv^ashington's report was well received 
and was widely printed throughout the 
colonies that the people might know the 
plans of the F-rench. The report was 
even sent to England, that the homeland 
might understand the dangerous schemes 
of her great rival. Washington although 
not yet twenty-two years old had really 
accomplished the deed of a man. 

Virginia Sends Washington 
Forward 

Virginia took the lead in the struggle to 
drive out the French. Governor Din- 
widdle ordered Washington to raise three 
hundred men at Alexandria, his home town, 
and push forward the work of cutting a 
5 



54 George Washington 

road through the deep forests to the source 
of the Ohio. 

Three hundred men could not be found 
quickly enough, so Washington, early in 
April, started out with one hundred fifty, 
to cut down trees, move great rocks, and 
bridge streams so that an army might 
follow with its cannon and its wagons. At 
Wills Creek they heard that a party of 
English soldiers, building a fort at the 
beginning of the Ohio, had been set upon 
by a larger force of Frenchmen and 
compelled to surrender. This was the 
very place to which Washington and his 
men were bound. Wild rumors, set loose 
by the French, were running through that 
wild region. Washington well knew what 
it meant — that the French had been 
quicker than the English. The taunt 
that the EngHsh were too slow for the 
French had been thrown in his face by 
both French and Indians when visiting 
the French general. He saw that some- 
thing had to be done, or else this affair 
would be told, with great additions, in 



A Virginia Cavalier 55 

every wigwam in the Ohio Valley, and 
would be looked upon by the Indians who 
were friendly to the English as the begin- 
ning of French victories. He therefore 
pushed forward and by the last days of 
May reached Great Meadows, "a charm- 
ing field for an encounter, ' ' as Washington 
thought. 

Now came news from Half- King that 
he was hastening, as fast as the fear of 
French scouting parties would permit, to 
join Washington. He sent this word: 
"The French army is coming to meet 
Major Washington. Be on your guard, 
for they intend to strike the first English 
that they shall see." Washington knew 
exactly what to do. He set forth with 
forty picked men to find the French and 
himself strike the first blow. He traveled 
all night, and by the aid of Half- King 
reached their camp at sunrise. The 
French did not dream the enemy was so 
near, but when aroused boldly sprang to 
arms. But it was in vain. Washington's 
men poured in a deadly fire, and in fifteen 



5<5 George Washington 

minutes one third of the Frenchmen, 
including their commander, were killed. 
The remainder of the party, about 
twenty-one, surrendered. 

It was a short fight, but these shots 
fired in the heart of the Alleghenies were 
heard in England and France. Washing- 
ton wrote to his brother: ''I heard the 
bullets whistle and believe me, there is 
something charming in the sound." 

Washington's forces were increased to 
three hundred fifty. But the French were 
coming, seven hundred strong. In a dense 
forest Washington hastily built a rude fort. 
This the French and Indians attacked 
from behind trees, and kept up the battle 
for nine hours. Inside the fort fifty had 
been killed and wounded when the French 
general summoned Washington to surren- 
der. The terms were good. Washing- 
ton accepted them, and his little army of 
backwoodsmen took up the long, dreary 
march home. It was a bitter trial for the 
young cavalier, but slow Englishmen and 
quick Frenchmen had beaten him. 



A Virginia Cavalier jy 

The House of Burgesses gave the young 
man a vote of thanks. All Virginia was 
stirred. The Burgesses voted twenty 
thousand pounds, and from the king came 
ten thousand pounds more. Then English 
pride took the place of good sense. Every 
one of the ten companies to be raised was to 
have no American officer higher than cap- 
tain. Washington immediately resigned. 

He retired to Mount Vernon, glad to 
be once more in the midst of friends and 
loved ones. 

An Aide to General Braddock 

But very soon all thoughts of work on 
the plantation were put to flight. Two 
splendid regiments of redcoats had come 
from England with General Braddock. 
The great ships had unloaded them hard 
by Mount Vernon, near the town of 
Alexandria. Washington rode out to see 
the splendidly dressed officers of the king, 
and hear the sound of fife and drum of the 
soldiers on dress parade. General Brad- 
dock offered to put him on his staff, and 



^8 George Washington 

he gladly accepted. It was all new to 
Washington, for he had never seen real 
soldiers before. He had seen his own 
Virginia militia, and had commanded his 
own backwoodsmen — those ''lean, gaunt, 
sinewy, bony Virginians of the woods, who 
knew as little of the manual of arms as he 
did of fighting by word of command." 

Can you imagine how this bold back- 
woods fighter looked upon this army that 
worked like a ''machine"? How aston- 
ished he was at the form and ceremony of 
General Braddock! No one could reach 
his tent without an order, or without 
running a gauntlet of guards. The dress 
parade, the mounting of guard, the move- 
ments by which an entire column could be 
thrown into a long line of gleaming bay- 
onets, all new and wonderful, amazed him. 

General Braddock was a brave soldier, 
but he knew nothing of fighting in America, 
where the Indian hid behind rocks and 
trees, crept up to shoot his enemy, and was 
off in a moment ! He refused Washington's 
advice, and neither would he take the 



A Virginia Cavalier 5P 

advice of Benjamin Franklin, of Philadel- 
phia. Franklin knew the ways of the 
Indian. He told General Braddock that 
his line of march — nearly four miles 
long — would furnish the Indians just the 
chance they wanted in that rough country. 
Braddock smiled at Franklin's ignorance. 
"These savages may indeed be a formid- 
able enemy to American militia, but upon 
the king's troops, sir, it is impossible they 
should make an impression." 

The army left Alexandria in April in 
high spirits, and reached Fort Cumberland 
in May. Washington saw how an English 
general was accustomed to act. General 
Braddock drove a fine carriage, with his 
guards galloping on either side. Drums 
were beating and fifes playing the 
' 'Grenadier's March " as the general passed 
by, and as Braddock rode into Cumberland'^ 
seventeen cannons thundered a salute ! 

The army left Fort Cumberland in June. 
They crossed the mountains with the 
greatest difficulty. They stopped "to 
level every mole hill and to erect bridges 



6o George Washington 

over every brook, by which means we 
were four days in getting twelve miles." 

On July 9 they waded the shallow 
Monongahela but eight miles from the 
Ohio! There strutted the officers in gay 
uniform, and there marched the men with 
glittering arms. Banners fluttered in the 
breeze. Only Washington and the brave 
frontiersmen were uneasy with fear of 
an Indian attack. 

The army marched joyously forward, 
when suddenly the French and Indians 
attacked, Indian fashion, from behind 
trees and logs, yelling like demons. "God 
save the King!" shouted the regulars, as 
they formed in ranks. The Virginia troops 
took to the trees. Washington begged 
the general to let each man take a tree and 
fight the Indians in the Indian way. 
Some did take to the trees, but Braddock 
beat them with the flat of his sword and 
ordered them to form in line of battle. 
After a time great fear seized upon the 
regulars. Their officers were nearly all 
killed or wounded. Braddock himself was 



A Virginia Cavalier 6i 

mortally wounded. Washington had 
three horses shot under him. The British 
soldiers ran wildly back to the rear. 
Many brave Virginians were killed that 
day, and but for them the slaughter would 
have been greater. 

Braddock lived long enough to bestow 
well-deserved praise upon Washington. As 
a token of appreciation he gave him his fav- 
orite horse and his favorite servant, Bishop. 

Braddock died, and Washington read 
the English funeral service over the body 
of the general. This was a hard task for 
an American youth scarcely twenty-two! 
Braddock was buried in the middle of the 
road so that the retreating army might 
hide all trace of his grave. 

When the army reached Fort Cumber- 
land Washington wrote home: "I have 
been protected beyond all human proba- 
bility or expectation, for I had four bul- 
lets through my coat . . . yet escaped 
unhurt, though death was leveling my 
companions on every side of me." 

The regulars had fled before one fourth 



62 



George Washington 



their number of French and Indians ! But 
the Americans gained a valuable lesson: 




Washington in command at Winchester, guarding the homes 

on the frontier 

They learned that British regulars would 
run, and that the Virginia backwoodsmen 
were better soldiers to send against the 
French and Indians. 

For the next three years Washington 
was kept busy guarding the homes of the 
settlers in the Shenandoah. Early in 
1756, before the Indian had left his 
wigwam to prowl, and scalp, and murder, 
Washington started on a long journey to 
Boston to settle his rank in the army 



A Virginia Cavalier 6j 

with Governor Shirley, commander in 
chief of the king's forces in America. 

This young Virginia colonel dressed for 
the journey as became his station. He did 
'not love fine clothes for mere $how, as he 
afterwards proved by introducing Indian 
dress into General Forbes* army, but he 
knew that people would form some idea 
of Virginia from the way in which he 
carried himself. 

The little cavalcade made a fine appear- 
ance. First carrie Washington, mounted 
on one of the finest horses that Mount 
Vernon afforded. He was dressed in his 
uniform of buff and blue, with a white 
and red cloak over his shoulders, and a 
sword knot of red, and gold. His horse 
was fitted with the best that could be 
bought in London shops. Close by his 
side rode his two aides, likewise in buff 
and blue. Behind came his servants, 
dressed in Washington's colors of white 
and red and wearing hats laced with silver. 

He was well received everywhere, for had 
he not saved the remnants of Braddock's 



64 George Washington 

army from the tomahawk and scalp- 
ing knife? He pushed on to Boston, 
where he saw the governor and arranged 
matters to his hking, and then he stayed 
there for ten days. He was just at an age 
to enjoy entertainment to the full. 

But other duties were calling. He 
hastened home to take up his place on 
the frontier, and soon forgot the charming 
faces he had seen on his journey. 

Washington in the Last Campaign 
against Fort Duquesne 

Finally a great man came to power in 
England, — William Pitt. The generals 
who had been defeated by the French and 
Indians were dismissed, and abler generals 
were sent to America. He declared that 
all American officers up to the rank of 
colonel should have the same authority as 
the king's officers. This made him popular 
in America. Pitt sent General Wolfe to 
capture Quebec, General Amherst to de- 
molish Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and 
General Forbes to take Fort Duquesne. 



A Virginia Cavalier 65 

Now once more all was hurry and 
bustle in Virginia. Two thousand men, 
in two regiments, were raised in Virginia. 
Washington was put at their head. Three 
thousand soldiers from Pennsylvania were 
to join the army, and twelve hundred 
fifty from South Carolina, besides seven 
hundred Indians. "Convenience rather 
than show, I think, should be con- 
sulted," said Washington, and immediately 
dressed his men in the light hunting garb 
of the Indian. - 

On November 25 Washington, leading 
the advance guard, entered Fort Duquesne 
only to find it had been set on fire and 
partially blown up the day before. He 
planted the British flag on the ruins, and 
Fort Duquesne became Fort Pitt in honor 
of the man whose enterprise and vigor had 
put it forever into the hands of the Eng- 
lish race. Meanwhile, Wolfe's expedition 
against Quebec had been successful, and 
soon all Canada became English territory. 
There was great rejoicing in America. 
Bonfires blazed forth the glad news, and 



66 



George Washington 



cannon boomed in celebration of this 
great triumph. 







Washington and the advance guard entering Fort Duquesne 

Washington was only a young man, 
but he had done great deeds since that 
spring morning when, as a mere boy, he rode 
forth with his little company to survey the 
lands of Lord Fairfax. Those ten years 
had been a great school for Washington. 

Love and Marriage 

Back in the days when Washington was 
a lad at school, even before he was fifteen 



A Virginia Cavalier 6y 

years old, a pair of bright eyes and a fair 
face had attracted him. They sHpped into 
his copy book in the midst of calculations. 
He wrote lines that make one feel that the 
young beauty did not favor him with her 
smiles. She was none other than Mary 
Bland, who married Henry Lee. Their 
son was "Light Horse Harry" of the Revo- 
lution, who, in turn, was the father of 
Robert E. Lee, the great soldier of the 
Confederacy. 

At a later date, during his friendship 
with Lord Fairfax, one of the charms 
of Belvoir was Mary Carey, the sister-in- 
law of George Fairfax. He kept up his 
interest in Mary Carey for two or three 
years. Still later, w^e find him writing to 
one of his friends that he is coming to his 
home in Richmond to ' ' see his sister. Miss 
Betsy," and that "he hoped to change her 
former cruel sentence." 

Not until Washington went on his first 
visit to Boston, dressed in the dashing 
colors of a Virginia colonel, do we hear 
again of the tender passion. While visiting 



68 



George Washington 



an old schoolmate in New York, he met 
Miss Mary Philips, a bewitching beaut}' 
and an heiress. But she did not look with 
favor on the Virginia cavalier, and our hero 



,^^:SM4, 




After the painting by A. Chappel 
Colonel Washington' s first interview with Mrs. Custis, his future wife 

was in a hurry to get back to his duty in 
the valley of the Shenandoah! 

One bright day in May, such a day as is 
common in "old Virginia," Washington 
was riding with all vSpeed from the frontier 
toward Williamsburg with important dis- 
patches. Not even Mount Vernon could 



A Virginia Cavalier 6g 

detain him ! Now it was only a little way to 
the capital. As he hastened along, plan- 
tations and neighborly homes began to 
increase in number by the way. Then 
''Virginia hospitality" bade him stop for 
dinner. Washington told of his great 
hurry with dispatches; but his friend told 
of a charming young woman whom he 
would meet, if the dinner did not bring 
temptation enough! Washington finally 
stopped for dinner. There he beheld a 
woman of great -beauty, of his own age, 
who had been a widow for a year or 
more. Her quiet manner and dignified 
bearing conipletely captured the heart of 
the young cavalier. After dinner his 
servant led Washington's horse back and 
forth in front of the windows where 
Washington and Mrs. Custis sat. But his 
master tarried; something held him^, and 
the servant led the impatient charger 
back to the stable. The dusk of evening 
came, but still Washington made no 
motion to journey toward Williamsburg. 
Not until the next morning was well gone 
6 



'JO George Washington 

did Washington tear himself away from the 
fair face, mount his charger, and ride with 
all speed to the capital. 

Just as soon as he had made his report, 
he set out in all haste for the plantation 
of Mrs. Custis. He pressed his suit with 
so much vigor that she surrendered, and 
gave her pledge to marry him. 

Within ten years Washington had done 
wonderful deeds — more daring than many 
a knight of old. His name filled the 
Virginia colony and broke over its bound- 
aries to the north and to the south. And 
even now fathers in Virginia, when they 
wished to cite some example of duty well 
performed, would point their sons to this 
princely cavalier of the Potomac. 

Fortunately, we have a description of 
Washington from the pen of a girl friend 
(1759): *'He may be described as being 
as straight as an Indian, measuring six 
feet two in his stockings, and weighing 
175 pounds. . . . His frame is padded 
with well -developed muscles, indicating 
great strength. He is wide shouldered, 



A Virginia Cavalier ji 

neat waisted, but is broad across the hips 
and has rather long legs and arms. His 
head is well shaped, though not large, but 
is gracefully poised on a superb neck. 
A long and straight rather than prominent 
nose; blue-gray, penetrating eyes, widely - 
separated and overhung by a heavy brow. 
... A pleasing, benevolent, though 
commanding countenance, and dark brown 
hair. His features are regular, with all 
the muscles of his face under perfect 
control, though flexible and expressive of 
deep feeling when moved by emotion. In 
conversation he looks you full in the 
face, is deliberate, deferential, and engaging. 
His movements and gestures are graceful, 
his walk majestic, and he is a splendid 
horseman." 

What a grand wedding in those old 
Virginia days! In January, 1759, the^ 
event took place at the Parish Church 
near the White House on the York River, 
the home of the bride. There was the new 
governor, fresh from his Majesty, George 
II, the gay, light-hearted, and high-living 



J2 George Washington 

Francis Farquier. He was dressed in 
royal style, as befitted his position as 
governor. British officers were there, look- 
ing their best in red coats and gold lace. 
Besides these came the more modest, but 
none the less proud, Virginia gentlemen who 
were neighbors to the bride and groom. 

It was a bright day in January, such a 
day as only tidewater Virginia could boast. 
The sun cast its brightest rays for that 
company of Virginia's gayest and best. 
After the ceremony the bride rode home 
in a coach and Washington rode a spirited 
horse by her side, followed by the gay 
crowd of guests. 

In the early days of their marriage they 
lived very quietly on the York River 
plantation, enjoying each other's society. 
Washington must have forgotten his hard 
days of marching and fighting in the 
restful, quiet life at the White House. 

But it was only a seeming. For the 
bold hunters and fearless frontiersmen 
beyond the Blue Ridge, only six months 
before his happy marriage, had elected 



74 



George Washington 




Washington's coal 
of arms 



him a member of the House of Burgesses. 
It was a cause of much satisfaction to 
Washington to get this 
decided proof of affection 
from these hardy back- 
woodsmen whose homes 
he had defended. 

Washington carried his 
young bride to WilHams- 
burg to be presented at 
the governor's reception. 
This event belonged to the opening of the 
House of Burgesses. Here came gentlemen 
in coaches with the family arms blazoned 
on the windows and on the harness of the 
horses. There were servants in livery rid- 
ing before the family carriage, and others 
after. Many people came in more modest 
style. What a bustle the old town presented ! 
The planters went to the governor's 
reception held in the famous Raleigh 
Tavern. To this scene of gayety Washing- 
ton proudly led his young wife, knowing 
full well that in grace and beauty she 
would ornament the best society. 



A Virginia Cavalier 75 

Then Washington took his seat for the 
first time in the House of Burgesses, one 
of the ablest parHamentary bodies in 
America. No sooner had he entered the 
House than the Burgesses commanded 
their Speaker to give him the thanks of 
the colony for the work he had done. 
The Speaker performed the gracious task 
in words of ringing eloquence. It was a 
new position for Washington. He rose 
to reply, but was so embarrassed that he 
could not speak a single word. There he 
stood, his face hot with blushes, stammer- 
ing and trying to speak, when the Speaker 
said: **Sit down, Mr. Washington; your 
modesty equals your valor, and that 
surpasses the power of any language I 
possess." 

Old Days at Mount Vernon 

After the session of the Burgesses was 
over, Washington took his young wife 
to Mount Vernon. Around it lingered 
memories of his gentle brother. Fresher 
still were memories of the young daughter 



76 



George Washington 



left to him as ward and whose death had 
given him that splendid plantation. 

Washington gave himself up to the care 
of his great plantation. He loved life on 
the plantation, with its fresh air and 




The main hall and staircase at Mount Vernon 

bright sunshine. He loved its pastimes 
and its quiet ways. But it took ability 
to handle a Virginia plantation. There 
were the slaves to be managed and kept 
at work. The tobacco and the wheat had 
to be cut just at the right time. Tobacco 



A Virginia Cavalier 77 

had to be cared for in large sheds and 
then placed in hogsheads or large barrels, 
and wheat had to be sent to mill to be 
ground into flour. Then came the great 
ship from London to get the products. If 
the men on shipboard were careless, or the 
agents in London dishonest, the entire 
crop might be lost! There were the 
markets to be looked after; to know when 
to sell and when to buy. High prices or 
low prices cut a great figure in the income 
of many a Virginia planter. What a 
picture of home life it gives to take a peep 
into the long list of things Washington 
ordered for his two stepchildren! For 
Master Jack Custis, six years old, there 
were gloves, shoes, stockings, hats, brushes, 
one pair of silver shoe buckles, and 
another of knee buckles, ten shillings' 
worth of toys, and six books for children 
beginning to read. For four-year-old Miss 
Nellie Custis, besides fine clothes, were 
two caps, two pairs of ruffles, two tuckers, 
bibs, and aprons if fashionable, and in the 
end, a magnificent doll baby. 



yS George Washington 

The London merchants soon learned 
that he watched everything, and at the 
same time was strictly honest. They had 
to do the same or lose his trade ! A hogs- 
head of tobacco or a barrel of flour marked 
"From George Washington, Mount Ver- 
non," was seldom examined in London, 
so certain was each to contain every 
ounce specified and to be of the best. 

One of Washington's mottoes was: 
**Buy nothing you can make yourself." 
Hence he kept a blacksmith to sharpen 
his tools and to make a few of the simpler 
ones used on the plantation. A wood 
burner furnished the blacksmith shop and 
the "great house" with charcoal. A 
number of his workmen, more skilled in 
the use of tools than the others, were kept 
busy repairing houses, putting up new 
ones, or engaged in similar work in the 
near-by town of Alexandria. 

He selected a good man to oversee his 
gardens and to look after the men who 
planted shrubs and flowers or labored with 
the vegetables. A brickmaker furnished 



A Virginia Cavalier 



79 



brick on his own plantation for building 
houses or chimneys. On this plantation 
Washington kept a gristmill turned by 
water, where a good quality of Indian meal 
and a fine brand of flour were made. 




Every morning after breakfast Washington rode 
over his fields 

Coopers prepared the barrels to hold the 
flour shipped to the London market. 

Shoemakers were in demand on a 
plantation where over three hundred people 
lived and labored. By 1768 the weavers 
living at Mount Vernon produced thirteen 
hundred sixty-five yards of cloth. Thus it 



8o George Washington 

was that Mount Vernon, like all great 
plantations, was a little world in itself. 

Washington rode over his fields every 
morning after breakfast to see how the 
men managing his slaves were getting 
on. He had his ''chariot and four" for 
Mrs. Washington, attended by servants 
on horseback. 

Washington was an admirer of horses 
and dogs. From early days he was 
brought up with them, and even in his 
school days he rode in the chase. A well- 
planned fox hunt was an event. The 
country round joined in the sport. The 
bellowing of the hounds was music in 
Washington's ears. He called his dogs 
by such names as Vulcan, Singer, Busy, 
Sweetlips — each name pointing out some 
quality of the dog. 

At a signal, away they flew over hedges, 
fences, across hills, scurrying here and 
there until they struck the telltale trail 
of some unfortunate fox. Thus they 
galloped for hours at a stretch, until the 
fox found a hole or else was overtaken by 



A Virginia Cavalier 8i 

the hounds. Once more the call of the 
huntsman's horn is heard. They all 
gather, look at the fox, praise the hounds, 
and then are off to their homes. 

When Lord Fairfax came over from the 
Shenandoah, music and dancing and gay 
young company was the order of the day 
at Mount Vernon. The mistress and the 
master were young yet, and proposed to 
stay so, if fun and frolic, music and song, 
and other ways of keeping happy, kept 
youth also. 

Mount Vernon always had visitors. 
Washington writes that "Mr. Bryan Fair- 
fax, Mr. Grayson, and Phil Alexander came 
home by sunrise . Hunted and catched a fox 
with them. Lord Fairfax, his brother. Col. 
Fairfax, all of whom, with Mr. Fairfax 
and Mr. Wilson of England, dined here." 

When the season came for ducks, Wash- 
ington had rare sport on the river. So 
good a place to hunt were the Potomac 
marshes that people came, who had no 
right, to hunt on the plantation. A 
rough fellow was in the habit of stealing 



82 



George Washington 



in among the creeks and inlets of the river 
and shooting canvas-back duck, Washing- 




An adventure with a poacher 

ton's favorite for the table. Hearing the 
report of a gun one morning, he hastened 
to the spot and there among the bushes he 
saw the man pushing off in a canoe. The 
fellow, with a dangerous look in his eyes, 
pointed his gun at Washington. But 
the latter rushed into the water, seized 
the boat, drew it on shore, and gave the 
insolent fellow a sound beating. 

Fishing was good sport for the negroes. 



A Virginia Cavalier 8j 

When the herring came into the river in 
the spring they got out the long seine and 
drew in great quantities of them. It 
was the same when the shad came. 
Washington wrote that Mount Vernon 
was ' ' situated on one of the finest rivers in 
the world ; a river well stocked with various 
kinds of fish at all seasons of the year." 

Once in this happy period a British 
man-of-war came up the Potomac and 
anchored opposite Belvoir. What a round 
of fun and f roli^: ! Dinners and breakfasts 
followed, now at Belvoir and now at 
Mount Vernon. Sometimes the gay com- 
mander gave a tea party, to the ladies of 
the country round, on board his warship. 
What a treat to young women who had 
never seen a warship close at hand! 

The life at Mount Vernon was very 
agreeable, but Washington and his wife 
were not to be satisfied with this alone. 
Washington was one of a very few men 
in Virginia who had a reputation beyond 
its borders. He and Mrs. Washington 
received invitations to visit Annapolis, the 



84 George Washington 

capital of Maryland. There were repeated 
the lively scenes of Williamsburg. 

The people of Maryland were much like 
those of Virginia, only the Potomac River 
being between them. And often the 
Washingtons journeyed to Philadelphia, 
where they were well received by the 
people of that old Quaker town. 

Often Washington thought of visiting 
England and the early home of his people. 
What a time such a visit promised! But 
the day of the visit was put off until 
Washington found the barrier of civil war 
shutting him out. 

Mount Vernon had happy- ties for 
Washington. Not only did he enjoy 
having a wife to hold his affection, but at 
this period Mrs. Washington's two children 
were objects of his fatherly care. He looked 
after their education and accomplishments 
with all the interest of a real father. 

The Mutterings of a Storm 

One day in 1 765, Washington came home 
to Mount Vernon much excited over a fiery 



A Virginia Cavalier 8j 

speech against the Stamp Act, made by 
a country lawyer, Patrick Henry. This 
speech had stirred up the dignified gentle- 
men who sat in the House of Burgesses, 
and caused much excitement. Henry 
declared in a set of resolutions that any 
one who favored the Stamp Act was an 
enemy of the colony of Virginia. He 
had backed up the resolutions by a famous 
speech which closed with the words: 
' ' Caesar had his Brutus ; Charles the First 
his Cromwell; and George the Third" 
(' ' Treason ! Treason ! ' ' shouted the Speaker) 
"may profit by their examples. Sir, if 
this be treason make the most of it." The 
House voted in favor of these resolutions. 
Washington was for them heart and soul. 

The Stamp Act was put on the colonies 
to raise money to pay soldiers in America. 
The colonists did not want the troops and 
refused to pay the tax. From one end of 
America to the other the stamp officers 
were forced to resign and the stamps were 
seized and destroyed. 

Washington looked on the doings of the 
7 



86 George Washington 

people very quietly. But he was only 
too glad when Parliament repealed the 
Stamp Act, and the happy intercourse 
was again taken up. When Parliament 
passed a new law called the Tea Tax, 
Washington saw all the old, hot feeling 
flame up again. 

He suggested to his neighbor, George 
Mason, that the people of Virginia enter 
into an agreement not to buy goods from 
England until this tax also was repealed. 
Since the northern colonies were trying 
this plan he thought the House of Burgesses 
ought to take the same action. Mason 
agreed, and drew up a set of resolutions 
which Washington moved and the Bur- 
gesses adopted. Thus it was that Virginia 
joined hands with the other colonies in 
shutting out British goods. 

There came a time of quiet in public 
affairs, and Washington visited the region 
across the mountains where Virginia had 
given a generous grant of land to the bold 
men who had shouldered their muskets in 
the war against the French and Indians. 



A Virginia Cavalier 8y 

Nothing had been done with the lands, and 
Washington agreed to go as the agent of his 
old soldiers. He reached Fort Pitt and 
spent a few days talking over the times 
long gone with bold backwoodsmen and 
hardy hunters, who were glad to see him. 
Although it was a time of peace, some of 
the Indian tribes were on the warpath. 
He met them in council, smoked the pipe 
of peace, and received the Indian ''speech 
belt." He told them nothing could please 
the Virginia people better than to live in 
lasting friendship with them. 

At the mouth of the Great Kanawha, 
Washington met an Indian chief who told 
him that he and his warriors had been 
on the side of the French at Braddock's 
defeat and that his warriors lay in ambush 
on that fatal day. They saw Washington 
riding to and fro, trying to rally the 
British regulars. The old chief told him 
that again and again his warriors tried 
their guns on him, but at last concluded 
that Washington was under the protection 
of the Great Spirit. 



88 George Washington 

Here, around the mouth of the Great 
Kanawha, Washington spent some time 
marking out claims for his old soldiers. 
His work done, he made his way slowly 
back to Fort Pitt and finally greeted his 
loved ones on the banks of the Potomac. 

But news from the north disturbed 
Washington. He had long since heard 
of the Boston Massacre; now came the 
news that the people of Boston had 
thrown into Boston Harbor the tea brought 
to their wharves, and that Parliament 
and king were so very angry that they 
had shut up the port of Boston so tight 
that not even a small boat, to say nothing 
of great ships, dared sail across the harbor. 
They went even farther and passed a 
number of harsh laws. Then they sent 
General Gage to Boston with soldiers to 
enforce these laws. 

When the news came to Virginia the 
Burgesses were planning to do great 
honor to their new governor. Washington 
arrived at Williamsburg. The Burgesses 
met. What a burst of indignation flared 



A Virginia Cavalier 



89 







In the National 
Museum, Washington 

Knife and fork case owned 
by Washington 



Up ! They were angry that their brethren 

in Massachusetts should be treated so 

badly, and set aside the 

first day of June, 1774, 

as a day of fasting and 

prayer. The governor 

promptly sent them 

home for suggesting such 

a thing. But the day 

had been appointed. 

Washington, however, 
was not a sullen man, for on the very day 
the governor dismissed the House of Bur- 
gesses he took dinner with the governor and 
rode with him to his farm. Then he went 
home and sat as chairman of the meeting 
of his county to protest against the acts of 
king and Parliament for punishing Boston. 

A convention of all Virginia was soon 
held at Williamsburg and adopted the 
same resolutions that Washington's county 
had passed. Washington declared: "I 
will raise a thousand men, subsist them at 
my own expense, and march to the relief 
of Boston." This aroused the meeting. 



QO George Washington 

One man pronounced it ' ' the most eloquent 
speech that was ever made." This meet- 
ing sent forth the call for a Congress of the 
thirteen colonies. Virginia named Wash- 
ington, Lee, Pendleton, Henry, Harrison, 
Randolph, and Bland. 

The last of August, Washington, Pen- 
dleton, and Henry rode away together for 
Philadelphia, the place of the Congress. 

Washington was the silent man of the 
company — a good listener. Henry was 
lively, full of fun, and saw the droll side 
of things. Pendleton was a hard-headed, 
sensible man, and a good writer. 

New scenes were now opening before 
Washington. Had they been military in 
nature he would easily have been the 
first man in the Congress. But Henry and 
Lee were great orators. "There are some 
fine fellows come from Virginia," said 
Joseph Reed of Philadelphia. Patrick 
Henry afterwards said: "If you speak of 
solid information and sound judgment, 
Colonel Washington is unquestionably the 
greatest man on the floor." 



A Virginia Cavalier gi 

The Congress contained the ablest body 
of men America had yet seen. Samuel and 
John Adams came from Massachusetts, 
Roger Sherman from Connecticut, John 
Jay from New York. From Pennsylvania 
came John Dickinson, and from South 
Carolina James Lynch and John Rutledge. 




In the Mount Vernon collection 
Washington' s treasure chest 

No record has been kept of any speeches 
Washington made in Congress. His diary 
shows that he visited with the leading men 
from the different colonies, and so gathered 
facts for future use. 

He saw what other leaders did. He 
saw them work out and send to the 
people of America, to the people of 



g2 George Washington 

England, and to the king and to Parlia- 
ment, a wonderful set of papers. He 
saw the fine spirit of compromise and good 
fellowship when Samuel Adams moved 
that the Congress hear prayers from a 
clergyman of the Church of England. 
He was powerfully stirred when Paul 
Revere came riding into town with news 
that General Gage was threatening the 
people of Boston with his soldiers. He 
heard the ringing resolutions of the Con- 
gress to stand by the people of Boston. 

This looked like war. Washington 
wrote a letter to Captain Mackenzie, with 
General Gage in Boston: ''Permit me, 
with the freedom of a friend, to express 
my sorrow that fortune should place you 
in a service that must fix the curses to the 
latest posterity upon the contrivers. . . . 
Again give me leave to add as my opinion 
that more blood will be spilled on this 
occasion if the king's ministry are deter- 
mined to push matters to extremity than 
history has ever yet furnished instances of 
in the annals of North America, and such 



A Virginia Cavalier gj 

a vital wound will be given to the peace of 
this great country, as time itself cannot 
cure." 

These are the words of an earnest, 
sober man, who speaks what he feels. 
He went back to Mount Vernon fully 
convinced that war must come. 

In March, 1775, the people of Virginia 
held another great meeting at Richmond. 
Washington was a delegate from Fairfax 
County. Patrick Henry took the lead, 
and stirred the heart of every patriot by his 
bursts of eloquence: ''We must fight, Mr. 
Speaker. I repeat it, sir, we must fight! 
An appeal to arms, and to the God of 
Hosts, is all that is left us!" Washington 
gave his hearty support to this view, and 
was put upon the committee to organize 
the militia of Virginia. 

The Storm Begins to Break 

Suddenly, like an alarm of fire, came 
the news from Lexington and Concord. 

Washington heard it with strange feel- 
ings. ''Unhappy is it to reflect that a 



g4 George Washington 

brother's sword is sheathed in a brother's 
breast." Thus he wrote to one Fairfax 
in England. Bryan Fairfax was at Mount 
Vernon when the news came, and expressed 
his deep sorrow over the event. He saw 
that it must break the ties that bound 
Belvoir to Mount Vernon! 

With strange feehngs Washington took 
his way northward to the meeting of the 
Second Continental Congress. He made 
a striking figure in the buff and blue 
uniform of a Virginia colonel. 

Around Boston an army was gathered. 
It had no commander with authority from 
the Continental Congress. John Adams, 
one of the great men from Massachusetts, 
told Congress that they must adopt the 
army at Boston and give it a general. 
He said that he had "but one gentleman 
in mind for that important position, and 
that was a gentleman from Virginia, who 
is among us, and very well known to all 
of us; a gentleman whose experience and 
skill as an officer, whose independent 
fortune, great talents, and excellent 



A Virginia Cavalier 95 

universal character, would command the 
approbation of all America." Washing- 



In the Department of State, Washington 
Washington's sword and staff. The sword was used by Washing- 
ton while commander in chief; the staff was willed to him by 
Benjamin Franklin 

ton, hearing himself alluded to in this very 
flattering manner, slipped out of the room. 
The Congress, on June 15, unanimously 
elected George Washington commander 
in chief of the continental army. He ac- 
cepted the office, saying, "I beg it may 
be remembered by every gentleman in 
this room, that I this day declare with the 
utmost sincerity, I do not think myself 
equal to the command I am honored with. 
As to pay, I beg leave to assure Congress 
that as no pecuniary (money) considera- 
tion could have tempted me to accept this 
arduous employment, at the expense of 
my domestic ease and happiness, I do not 
wish to make any profit out of it. I will 



q6 George Washington 

keep an exact account of my expenses. 
These, I doubt not, they will discharge, 
and that is all I desire." 

John Adams, writing to a friend about 
this event, says: "There is something 
charming to me in the conduct of Wash- 
ington, a gentleman of one of the finest 
fortunes upon the continent, leaving his 
delicious retirement, his family and 
friends, sacrificing his ease, and hazarding 
all, in the cause of his country." 

Washington wrote to his wife in simple 
words: "You may believe me, my dear 
Patsy, when I assure you in the most 
solemn manner, that so far from seeking 
the appointment, I have used every en- 
deavor in my power to avoid it, not only 
from my unwillingness to part from you 
and the family, but from the consciousness 
of its being a trust too great for my 
capacity." 

He writes to his favorite brother, John 
Washington: "I am now to bid adieu to 
you, and to every kind of domestic ease. 
... I have been called upon by the 



A Virginia Cavalier gy 

unanimous voice of the colonies to take 
command of the continental armies; an 
honor I neither sought after nor desired. 
... I shall hope that my friends will 
visit and endeavor to keep up the spirits 
of my wife, for my departure will, I know, 
be a cutting stroke upon her." 

On June 21, 1775, Washington started 
for Boston. A great body of men rode 
out across the river with the new gen- 
eral. When Washington reached Newark 
the people carae out to see him. A com- 
mittee of the New Jersey congress went 
with him to New York. There were 
great demonstrations in the city. Hun- 
dreds of people turned out to see him. 

Washington made the people of New 
York happy by appointing General Schuy- 
ler commander of the troops of that city 
and colony. Schuyler remained the firm 
friend of Washington throughout the long, 
hard war. 

At New Haven the boys of Yale Col- 
lege gave Washington a rousing reception. 
Hurrying on toward Boston, prominent 



g8 George Washington 

citizens met and took him to Cambridge, 
the headquarters of the army. When he 
approached the army a burst of cheers 
and a roar of cannon told the British that 
Washington had reached Cambridge. 

The next day he rode forth, drew his 
sword beneath the historic elm tree, and 
took command. The people and soldiers 
were not disappointed. They beheld a 
fine looking man, every inch a soldier! 
They saw in his calm, quiet face the signs 
of force and courage. 

Here in Cambridge, Washington learned 
all about Bunker Hill. How eleven hun- 
dred Americans had stolen over during 
the night and fortified Breeds Hill, and 
how the British soldiers, over three thou- 
sand strong, came to attack the rude 
fortification. How the sight of the red- 
coats coming up the hill in solid columns 
thrilled the minute men. How, when the 
American guns blazed forth, the British 
staggered, reeled, and ran. How a second 
time they came, reenforced by fresh 
troops, only to be beaten back. How, 



A Virginia Cavalier gg 

with true British pluck, they came up the 
hill a third time, to find the American 
powder gone, and engaged in a hand- 
to-hand fight with muskets. How the 
Americans retreated, and the British got 
possession of the fort. 

Before this event the British regulars 
had held the minute man in high contempt. 
"He will not fight," said the regular. 
When you think about it, there was some 
reason in their point of view. The minute 
man had no training, so far as the practice 
of British tactics was concerned. But 
he had been drilled in the best possible 
way. From boyhood he had been taught 
to shoot. When he looked along the barrel 
of his gun, he aimed at some object to 
be killed! So it was at Bunker Hill; he 
had killed and wounded just one third of 
the attacking army. 

The work around Boston was difficult, 
but Washington set about doing it. The 
soldiers had no clothes fit for the coming 
winter. Washington had to write letters 
to Congress and urge it to send food and 



100 



George Washington 



clothes to the army. The people of the 
country sent food of all sorts into the 




The meeting with General Morgan and his Virginia company 

camp, and somebody had to have charge 
of these gifts or some would get too much 
and others too little. Soldiers began to 
arrive from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 
Virginia. One day, as Washington rode 
down the line, at the head of the com- 
pany, dressed in hunting shirt and Indian 
leggings, he saw General Morgan. He 
saluted and said, ''From the right bank of 
the Potomac, General." The men bore 
upon their hunting shirts the famous 



A Virginia Cavalier loi 

words of Patrick Henry: "Liberty or 
Death!" There were ninety-six men all 
told. As Washington dismounted and 
shook hands with each man, tears came 
into his eyes, for these were his own neigh- 
bors. Their accurate shooting was the 
wonder of the camp. While walking at a 
quickstep they could hit a mark seven 
inches in diameter at two hundred fifty 
yards ! 

Washington prepared a surprise for the 
army. He sent word to Mrs. Washington 
that she was to join him at Cambridge. 
She took her son and his wife, and set out 
in her ** coach and four" for the long, long 
journey to the northeast. As they came 
to villages and towns the people gathered 
to see the wife of their commander in chief 
go by. A troop of cavalry in bright uni- 
forms met them and made them welcome 
to the ' ' capital" of the colonies. Members 
of Congress called on Mrs. Washington, 
and showed her every attention. With 
prancing steeds and sounding trumpets, 
a gallant body of soldiers carried the party 
8 



102 George Washington 

into New Jersey. Another party of sol- 
diers and citizens attended them from 
Ehzabethtown to Newark, where they 
arrived amid the ringing of bells and the 
shouts of the people. 

After many days they reached Cam- 
bridge amid the rejoicing of the army and 
to the happiness of Washington. Mrs. 
Washington had brought with her the 
atmosphere of Mount Vernon. Quiet, 
dignified, and warm-hearted, she seemed 
to give a brightness which things had not 
had before. 

Washington was now eager to strike a 
blow. General Knox had found fifty 
pieces of cannon at Ticonderoga and had 
hauled them on ox sleds all the way to 
Boston. The spirit of the army was 
rising. One day the cannon suddenly 
opened on Boston. The British hardly 
knew what it meant. Day and night the 
cannon belched forth fire and smoke. 
One morning the British army woke to 
find Dorchester Heights fortified. Wash- 
ington had sent over two thousand men, 



A Virginia Cavalier loj 

and before morning the fortification was 
bristling with cannon! The British were 
amazed at the boldness of the Americans. 
General Howe must fight or leave. On the 
17th of March, 1776, the whole British 
army left Boston, carrying with them 
nine hundred Tories who were afraid to 
stay and face their neighbors! A victory 
without a fight! It was high praise for 
Washington and his men. 

Independence Forever! 

The British army went to Halifax, but 
Washington knew that they would soon 
be in New York, so he hurried his army 
forward. New York lay upon the Hudson, 
which stretched away to Lake George and 
Lake Champlain, and thus opened a 
choice route to Canada. New York was 
the home of many Tories, and Governor 
Tryon was trying to arouse them. 

The Continental Congress now raised 
the question of separating the colonies 
from the mother country. This was a 
hard question. Some Americans sided 



104 



George Washington 



with Great Britain in the quarrel over 
taxation, and a still greater number of 
the colonists were opposed to separation. 
Several members of Congress took the 
view that it was not wise. But there 
were many like Washington who saw that 




Reading the Declaration of Independence to the soldiers 

independence must come. The Congress 
finally passed the act, and the United 
Colonies were declared forever free and 
independent of Great Britain. 

The news flew over the land. It was 
greeted with rousing cheers, with ringing 
of bells, lighting of bonfires, and firing of 
cannon. Washington had the declaration 



A Virginia Cavalier loj 

read at the head of each brigade in the 
army. The people of the city of New York 
pulled down the leaden statue of George 
III and turned it into bullets to be used 
in the cause of independence. 

The Continental Congress declared that 
the Tories should immediately give up 
all firearms. The Tories were Americans, 
yet showed the British every pass, every 
hiding place, and where they might find 
plunder. This angered the patriots, and 
sometimes there. was war between them. 
They lay in wait for one another, and were 
shot down in cold blood. They burned 
each other's homes. Congress, therefore, 
felt justified in taking away from the 
Tories all firearms. It seems true, now, 
that the War of the Revolution was 
made much longer because of the Tories. 

The Campaign for the Middle 
States 

Washington knew that the British would 
invade the Middle States, and therefore 
gathered twenty thousand troops around 



io6 George Washington 

New York. Thirty thousand British, with 
a great fleet under the command of Howe, 
sailed into the bay. Lord Howe, a brother 
of the general, brought with him a par- 
don for all those who would submit. He 
tried hard to open communication with 
Washington, but sent his letters addressed 
to *' George Washington, Esq." The let- 
ters were refused, for Washington stood 
upon his dignity as commander in chief 
of the American armies. Lord Howe was 
too late. Independence had been declared ! 
General Howe commanded some of the 
best soldiers of Europe, and in a battle on 
Long Island killed and wounded four 
hundred Americans and captured one 
thousand others. The rest of the troops 
fell back to the fort on Brooklyn Heights. 
Washington expected the British to attack 
him behind the fortifications, but they 
remembered Bunker Hill! Washington 
was anxious for an attack, but feared the 
siege for which General Howe now pre- 
pared. With the aid of some New England 
fishermen, Washington rowed his entire 



A Virginia Cavalier loy 

army over to New York, before morning. It 
was the move of a master. The British 
had won a victory, but now it was lost. 

Washington had saved the army, but 
he could not save the city. It fell, and 
remained in British hands until the close 
of the war. But Washington defeated the 
enemy at Harlem Heights and withstood 
their charges at White Plains. General 
Howe became very cautious, sent for re- 
enforcements, and finally took post at 
Dobbs Ferry. 

Washington crossed the Hudson and 
began the retreat through the Jerseys. 
This retreat brought on the most gloomy 
time of the war. He had, when he 
reached Trenton, barely three thousand 
men, ragged, footsore, and weary. Many 
people thought the war was surely at an 
end, and hastened to take the oath to sup- 
port the king 1 But such men did not know 
Washington. For seventy miles up and 
down the Delaware River he collected all 
the boats he could lay his hands on, and was 
over the river before the British knew it! 



io8 George Washington 

General Howe and Cornwallis went 
back to New York to spend Christmas. 
Their army was located in different New 
Jersey towns. Washington saw his chance. 
Unfortunately, General Lee, who com- 
manded almost as many men as did 
Washington, had refused to join the main 
army as they ran through the Jerseys, and 
had been captured. Lee was already 
playing traitor, but most of his troops 
succeeded in reaching Washington, who 
now had some six thousand men. 

Washington divided his army, each part 
to cross the Delaware and strike a town. 
He, with twenty-five hundred, crossed the 
Delaware nine miles above Trenton. They 
set out for Trenton in a blinding storm of 
snow and sleet. The men left bloodstains 
in the snow as they marched ! Some were 
frozen, and two died. But on went the 
little army, Washington in the lead. The 
surprise was complete, for the Hes- 
sians had celebrated Christmas too much ! 
Washington recrossed the river with his 
prisoners. 



no George Washington 

Within a few days he again boldly 
crossed to Trenton. Cornwallis was now 
hastening forward with eight thousand 
men. He left three regiments at Prince- 
ton, and pushed on for Trenton, arriving 
in the evening. He exclaimed: ''At last 
w^e have run down the old fox, and we'll 
bag him in the morning." Only a small 
river separated them. 

The booming of Washington's cannon 
gave the first sign to Cornwallis that the 
"old fox" had slipped away. He was 
now striking the British at Princeton. 
The British gave way in all directions. 

Washington hastened with his army to 
the hills around Morristown, where the 
British dared not follow. Reenforcements 
now came pouring in. 

The country began to breathe easier. 
Foreign nations were stirred by Washing- 
ton's wonderful fighting. Frederick the 
Great, one of the greatest generals that 
ever lived, declared this was the most 
brilliant campaign of the century. 

The Continental Congress now gave 



A Virginia Cavalier 



III 



Washington the powers of a dictator. 
Well they might, for he pledged his own 






X ! PS"' 




Close to the lines at Princeton 

fortune to get his men to stay in the army. 

In May Washington moved his army 
down toward New Brunswick to watch 
the enemy, but finally they went back to 
New York. Washington was troubled. 
Would Howe go up the Husdon to meet 
Burgoyne, who was coming from Canada, 
or would he make some other move? 

General Howe set sail for the Chesa- 
peake. Washington marched his army 
through Philadelphia, partly for the effect 



112 George Washington 

it would have on timid persons. It was 
a goodly army, eleven thousand strong. 
The soldiers were in good spirits and wore 
a sprig of green in their hats. Washington 
rode at their head with the young Lafay- 
ette, just from France, at his side. 

On September ii he met the enemy at 
the fords of the Brandywine, but was 
forced to retreat. General Howe now 
occupied the *' rebel capital," but he 
found nothing but the town. Among the 
hills and ravines of Valley Forge, Wash- 
ington took up his winter quarters. 

Burgoyne was now sweeping down from 
Canada. General Philip Schuyler had 
command of the American army opposing 
Burgoyne. His men were not strong 
enough to fight, but destroyed bridges, 
and chopped down trees across the roads 
Burgoyne had to travel with his baggage 
and cannon. So well did they do their 
work that Burgoyne was twenty days 
marching as many miles! Washington 
sent General Arnold and General Morgan 
and his sharpshooters to Schuyler. 



A Virginia Cavalier iij 

Just as Schuyler was ready to do some- 
thing, Congress appointed General Gates 
to the command of his army. Gates was 
a vain man, and paid no attention to 
General Schuyler, although Schuyler had 
offered to aid him in any way he could. 
There was terrible fighting in which 
Arnold and Morgan distinguished them- 
selves. Burgoyne and his entire army 
were compelled to surrender at Saratoga. 

The surrender of Burgoyne created a 
great stir in .England because it led 
France to decide to help America gain her 
independence. The French sent clothes, 
money, troops, and ships. A number of 
noble men from different nations had come 
to join the banner of Washington, among 
the most famous being Baron Steuben 
from the army of Frederick the Great, 
Pulaski and Kosciusko from Poland, and 
De Kalb from France. 

During Burgoyne's campaign Washing- 
ton had kept Howe from sending reenforce- 
ments to the hard-pressed British army. 
When winter came on, Washington had 



ii/j. George Washington > 

to go into quarters among the bleak woods 
and rugged hills of Valley Forge. 

The army was freezing and starving at 
Valley Forge, not because the country had 
no food and clothes, but because the Con- 
gress, now sitting at York, Pennsylvania, 
had lost much of its power. It was a 
sad time for Washington, but he made 
the best of it. "Naked and starving as 
they are, we cannot sufficiently admire 
the patience and fidelity of the soldiers," 
wrote Washington. 

But out of Valley Forge came some 
of the best fighting seen on the battle 
fields of the Revolution. Baron Steuben 
turned that hard winter into one of hard 
work. He taught the soldiers how to 
form the different movements, to use the 
bayonet, and to charge in the open field. 

The British said a hasty good-by to 
Philadelphia, and were on the march for 
New York as soon as they heard that a 
French fleet was coming. Washington 
was at their heels, anxious to see how 
well Steuben had done his work. At 



iegiftiilff*' '■^' 



IWII'i'iVl 



IjPijliiffF'f'IppipjP 



asaii 




Washington and Steuben at Valley Forge 



115 



Ii6 George Washington 

Monmouth he ordered Lee, who had been 
exchanged, to take six thousand men and 
get around CHnton's left wing, in all about 
eight thousand men. Washington held 
his main body ready to strike at any 
moment. The movement was succeeding, 
when Lee began to retreat. Lafayette 
saw the danger, and sent for Washington. 
He found the men in full retreat. ''What 
is the meaning of all this?" cried Washing- 
ton, his face red with anger. Lee stam- 
mered and stuttered; Washington ordered 
him to the rear, and himself took charge. 
The brave fellows wanted a general who 
could fight. One bayonet charge followed 
another until the British were thoroughly 
beaten. That night Clinton retreated to 
New York, and Washington's chance of 
dealing the British a blow had passed, but 
he had a better army than ever. 

Washington remained around New York 
for two years or more, watching the 
British, ready to strike a blow at any 
time. The time came. The British had 
occupied Stony Point, a fortified place on 



A Virginia Cavalier 



117 



the Hudson. It looked to Washington as 
if General Clinton intended to make his 







Washington and Lee at Monmouth 

way up the river to capture West Point. 
Washington decided to capture Stony 
Point. This place was a very high point 
projecting far into the river. The fort 
was occupied by about six hundred troops. 
To capture this, Washington selected one 
of his bravest officers, ''Mad Anthony" 
Wayne, as he came to be called. Midnight 
was the time. At half-past eleven a 
negro spy guided the troops. Two stout 
9 



Ii8 George Washington 

"farmers" went with them, and seized two 
guards and gagged them. They placed 
one hundred fifty men on the right and 
one hundred on the left with bayonets 
fixed! Two lieutenants lead twenty men 
each in advance to remove obstructions. 
On they climb. They are discovered, and 
the fighting begins. Not a gun is fired by 
Wayne's men. On they go, using the 
bayonet. They rush into the fort, and 
the two columns meet. All is over. The 
British surrender. 

Perhaps the saddest blow Washington 
received during these two years came from 
the treason of Benedict Arnold. He had 
been a favorite officer of Washington. He 
had done noble service in the attack on 
Quebec and at Saratoga. Washington ob- 
tained for him the command of Phila- 
delphia. He lived beyond his means, 
and for this he was reprimanded by 
Washington. Arnold soon asked and was 
given by Washington the command of the 
important station of West Point. While 
here he wrote letters to General Clinton. 



A Virginia Cavalier IIQ 

Major Andre, a British officer, met 
Arnold six miles below Stony Point 
and they discussed the surrender of West 
Point to General Clinton. Andre, with 
his papers and plans in his stockings, was 
captured on his way back. Arnold escaped 
to the British forces at New York, and 
was given a position as a British general. 
Major Andre was hanged as a spy, 
according to the rules of war. 

Redeeming the South 

On the 1 2th of May, 1780, the British 
captured Charleston with General Lincoln 
and three thousand prisoners. 

General Clinton returned to New York, 
leaving half his force under Cornwallis. 
Congress thought Gates a great general, 
so sent him to South Carolina to catch 
Cornwallis. Gates went with pomp and 
parade, intending to serve Cornwallis 
as he believed he had served Burgoyne. 
He had about three thousand men, and 
Cornwallis had but two thousand. Each 
general started to surprise the other in 



120 



George Washington 



the early morning. The fight began, and 
Gates and the miHtia ran away, while the 
battle was maintained by De Kalb and his 
brave Maryland continentals. De Kalb 
fell, with eleven wounds, and died within a 
few days. Carolina did indeed seem lost. 
Cornwallis was happy over the result, 
and sent Colonel Ferguson with twelve 
hundred men up into the mountains to 
encourage the Tories. The backwoods- 
men gathered from far and near — from 




In the Nationa Museum, Washington 
Washington's camp chest 



A Virginia Cavalier 



121 



Tennessee, from Virginia, and from the two 
Carolinas. Colonel Ferguson took post on 




Id possession of Mrs. Washington's 
descendants in Baltimore 

Field glass and case used by Washington 
when commander in chief 

the top of King's Mountain — very steep 
on one side. The backwoodsmen formed 
in three divisions — one on each side of 
the mountain. Up they climbed. The 
British met the center division with a 
bayonet charge. The men took to trees, 
and slowly gave way. From the right 
came a flanking and deadly fire of the 
riflemen. Ferguson turned upon them 
with bayonets drawn, and charged. Down 
the mountains the men slowly fell back. 
From the flank and rear came the deadly 
fire of the other two divisions. The 
British could not stand before such tactics, 
and retreated to their breastworks. The 
backwoodsmen closed in, and Ferguson was 



122 



George Washington 




Now at Newburg, N.Y. 

Camp hr oiler used by 

Washington 



killed. Nearly one thousand British were 
killed, wounded, or taken prisoners here. 

Washington now had 
his way, and appointed 
General Greene to the 
command in the south. 
Greene took charge of 
about twenty-three hun- 
dred men. He sent 
General Morgan, of sharp- 
shooter fame, with one part of his army to 
the region near the Cowpens to find food 
for the troops. Cornwallis ordered Colonel 
Tarleton with eleven hundred choice troops 
to run him down. Morgan retreated to 
the Cowpens, near a bend in the Broad 
River. He placed the militia in the front 
line, with orders to fire twice and then fall 
back behind the cavalry. His continentals, 
commanded by 
the brave Colonel 
Howard, he lo- 
cated one hun- 
dred fifty yards 

, .-I £ J_^ ^^ ^^'^ National Museum, Washington 

LO ine rear or ine Camp lUensHs used by Washington 




A Virginia Cavalier 



123 




Catnp stool and pewter dish 
used by Washington 



militia. Colonel William Washington and 
his cavalry were placed behind the conti- 
nentals. In front of 
all, in the woods on 
the left, he located 
sixty riflemen, and the 
same number on the 
right. Tarleton came 
rushing on, charging 
pell-mell into the battle. The militia 
delivered their fire three or four times 
before retiring. ^On came the British, and 
struck Colonel Howard's continentals. 
Colonel Washington's cavalry now came 
round one flank and struck the British 
with great force, and the militia, having 
rallied, took them on the other flank. The 
British were thrown into confusion, and 
the bulk of the army surrendered. Colonel 
Tarleton and Colonel Washington had 
a hand-to-hand conflict; Tarleton was 
wounded, and fled. The victory was 
complete. 

Greene joined Morgan and retreated 
across North Carolina into Virginia. No 



124 George Washington 

sooner had Greene been reenforced than 
he marched into North Carohna again 
and fought CornwalUs at Guilford Court- 
house. Greene's men were beaten on the 
field of battle, but Cornwallis lost one 
fourth of his army. Another victory like 
this, and he would be ruined! Cornwallis 
now began to retreat toward Virginia, and 
Greene turned to conquer South Carolina. 

The Final Victory at Yorktown 

While Cornwallis was hastening to join 
the British forces in Virginia, the British 
sent some small vessels up the Potomac on 
a plundering expedition. They reached 
beautiful Mount Vernon and demanded 
supplies, or declared they would burn its 
buildings. The manager gave them what- 
ever they wanted and then wrote Washing- 
ton. Washington was angry, and declared 
that it would have been less painful to him 
to have heard that he had refused the 
request and "they had burned my house 
and laid my plantation in ruins." 

Lafayette, sent by Washington, soon 



A Virginia Cavalier 



125 



met and attacked Cornwallis, but was 
repulsed. Toward the end of the sum- 




Carrying the outer works at Yorktown 

mer, CornwaUis moved from Portsmouth 
over to Yorktown. Lafayette immediately 
wrote Washington, asking for aid, and 
threw his forces across the isthmus to 
keep watch. Washington saw the situ- 
ation at a glance. 

He wrote to Lafayette that the French 
fleet was bound for the Chesapeake and 



126 



George Washington 



that he would come with his army! 
CHnton in New York must be deceived, 
so Washington made beheve that he was 
going to attack that city. His army was 




Washington and Rochambeau tn the trenches at Yorktown 

well on the way before Clinton knew bet- 
ter, and then he did not dream where it 
was going. There was great rejoicing 
in Philadelphia as the army, over two 
miles in length, marched through. Every 



A Virginia Cavalier 12 J 

brigade was followed by cannon and am- 
munition wagons. The officers were well 
mounted and followed by servants. When 
the people heard that the French fleet had 
come into the Chesapeake and had landed 
three thousand troops to help Lafayette, 
their joy knew no bounds. 

Washington was now going to Mount 
Vernon! He had not seen that beloved 
spot for six years! The French general 
and his friends came on the next day, and 
there was feasting and rejoicing once 
more as in the days long gone by. 

The next day Washington hastened to 
Williamsburg and then to Yorktown. 
On the 14th of September Washington's 
cannon opened fire and tore holes in the 
Hne of fortification. Cornwallis made a 
wild attempt to break out, but it failed. 
It was no use to struggle, for Washington 
held him in a death grip. On October 19, 
1 781, Cornwallis and the entire army 
surrendered. At noon of that day the 
American army was drawn up in two lines 
more than a mile in length. The French 



128 George Washington 

troops looked fine in their white and green 
uniforms. The Americans, poor fellows, 
were dressed in uniforms that told of long 
marches and hard fighting, and of an 
empty money box. 

About two o'clock the British army 
appeared, beating a solemn march. They 
looked like defeated soldiers! The band 
played the old tune : ' * The World 's Upside 
Down." The world was topsy-turvy as 
far as the British army in America was 
concerned. Cornwallis was not well, so 
he sent another general to give his sword 
to Washington, who pointed to General 
Lincoln as the man to receive the sword, 
for Lincoln had surrendered his at the 
capture of Charleston. He led the British 
army to the field, where the order to 
"ground arms" was given. 

The old German guard in Philadelphia 
cried out, ''Three o'clock, and all is well! 
Cornwallis is taken ! " As he repeated the 
cry, windows were thrown open, lights 
began to appear, and soon the city was 
in motion. People shouted, shook hands, 



A Virginia Cavalier I2g 

and hugged each other. Members of 
Congress joined in the celebration, and 
ordered a special Thanksgiving service. 
Cannons were fired and bonfires lighted to 
show the joy of the people. 

Washington took the French officers to 
Fredericksburg to visit his mother, then 
in the seventy-fourth year of her age. 
A great ball was given in honor of the 
victory at Yorktown. How pleased was 
every one when Washington entered the 
ballroom with his own dear mother on 
his arm! She' was beautiful in her old 
age, and even now as straight as an arrow. 
She was still the ''rose of Epping Forest." 

When the news reached England, Lord 
North, the prime minister, exclaimed 
wildly as he paced up and down the floor, 
"Oh, God! It is all over!" 

The British people were tired, but 
George III wanted to fight on. Lord 
North soon resigned, and the king was 
compelled to call back to influence those 
very Englishmen who all along had been 
the friends of America. When they took 




Washington escorting his mother into the ballroom at Fredericksburg 



A Virginia Cavalier 131 

office they appointed men to go to Paris to 
make a treaty with men named by Con- 
gress. These men agreed upon the Treaty 
of 1783, which gave the United States in- 
dependence and made the Mississippi River 
the western boundary of the United States. 

Washington Says Good-By 

After the treaty was made, and the 
British had left New York, Washington 
marched in with his weatherbeaten 
soldiers. A young woman writing of 
that time said: ''But they were our 
troops, and as I looked at them and 
thought of ail they had done and suffered 
for us, my heart and my eyes were full 
and I admired and gloried in them the 
more because they were weatherbeaten 
and forlorn." 

In a few days Washington said good-by 
to his offiicers. He met them at Fraunce's 
Tavern, near the Ferry. When he entered 
he found himself surrounded by men who 
for years had been his true comrades and 
had been with him through so many 



IJ2 George Washington 

scenes of hardship and danger. He turned 
to them and said : ' ' With my heart full of 
love and gratitude, I now take leave of you, 
most devoutly wishing that your latter 
days may be as prosperous and happy as 
your former ones have been glorious and 
honorable. I shall be obliged if each of 
you will come and take me by the hand!" 
General Knox came first. Washington 
grasped his hand and, with tears in his 
eyes, embraced him. He took leave of 
each in the same brotherly way. Not a 
word was spoken. Washington went on 
board the barge which was to carry him 
over to the Jersey side, lifted his hat, and 
bade them a silent farewell. Each officer 
did the same. 

Washington went to Annapolis, where 
Congress held its meetings. All along the 
way he was greeted by thousands of people 
who rejoiced with him in the return of 
peace. At Annapolis he was welcomed by 
Mrs. Washington, who had driven over 
from Mount Vernon. His arrival was 
the signal for the firing of cannon. An 



A Virginia Cavalier 



133 



old-fashioned dinner given to Washington 
was followed by a grand ball in the State 
House. 

On the day appointed, at twelve o'clock, 
the gallery and a large part of the floor 
of Congress were filled with ladies, with 




After the painting by Trumbull 
in the capitol at Washington 

Washington resigns his commission 

officers of the state of Maryland, and with 
other citizens of importance. The Sec- 
retary of Congress led Washington to a 
chair. After a pause he arose and said: 
''The events on which my resignation 
depended having at length taken place, 
I now have the honor of offering my 
10 



IJ4 George Washington 

sincere congratulations to Congress, and to 
surrender into their hands the trust com- 
mitted to me, and to claim the indulgence 
of retiring from the service of my country. 
... I here offer my commission and 
take my leave of all the employments 
of public life." 

The president of Congress, replying, 
said: ''You retire from the theater of 
action, not only with the blessing of your 
fellow citizens, but the glory of your vir- 
tues will not terminate with your military 
command; it will continue to animate the 
remotest ages." 

Washington and his wife hastened to 
Mount Vernon, which they reached on 
Christmas Eve. The delight of the ne- 
groes knew no bounds. To think that 
their beloved master and mistress were 
at home to stay! There was old Bishop, 
the gift of Braddock, leaning on his staff! 

A letter from a young lady who wit- 
nessed these events says: "The general 
and madame came home Christmas Eve, 
and such a racket the servants made, for 



A Virginia Cavalier 



135 



they were glad of their coming! Three 
handsome young officers came with them. 
All Christmas afternoon 
people came to pay their 
respects and duty. 
Among them were state- 
ly dames and gay young 
women. The general 
seemed very happy and 
Mistress Washington 
was busy from daybreak 
making everything as 
agreeable as possible for 
everybody." 

A severe winter now 
set in with plenty of snow and ice. Wash- 
ington gladly turned to letter writing. He 
wrote, like one freed from a great burden, 
to Lafayette: "I am become a citizen 
on the banks of the Potomac . . . free' 
from the bustle of camp and the busy 
scenes of public life. . . . Envious of 
none, I am determined to be pleased with 
all, and this, my dear friend, being the 
order of my march, I will move gently 




Alt old-fashioned mirror 
at Mount Vernon 



ij6 



George Washington 




down the stream of time until I sleep with 

my fathers." 

But it was not the same 
Virginia as in 1775. Then 
George III was king and 
sent his royal governors to 
rule the Virginians. Now 
one of her own sons, Ben- 
jamin Harrison, was 
governor. Some of Wash- 
ington's friends had per- 
ished in the war. Lord 

Fairfax, the elder, lived at Greenway Court 

until he was ninety-two. He was a friend 

of Washington to the last, but a Tory. 
Younger men had come to the front in 

Virginia politics, and they all loved and 

honored Washington. 



He seemed a truly 
great man to them. 
He was a bit dignified. 
The war had made him 
so. The young peo- 



In National Museum, 
Wasliington 

Lamp at Mount 
Vernon 



pie who gathered at 
Mount Vernon, for fun 




In Mount Vernon collection 
Andirons at Mount Vernon 



A Virginia Cavalier 



137 



and frolic, were shy of him. Yet he was 
not always dignified, nor yet always silent. 




In Mount Vernon collection 

Inkstand, candlestick, and snuffers at 
Mount Vernon 

He had adopted two of Mrs. Washing- 
ton's grandchildren. It was the delight 
of his heart to lead them by the hand 
along the pleasant walks around Mount 
Vernon, and to listen to their chatter. 
But it was hard to be young again, and 
difficult to play the farmer at Mount 
Vernon, as in earlier days. For, as soon 
as the winter was over, visitors came 
trooping to see Washington. But of all 
the guests coming to the banks of the 
Potomac no one was more welcome than 
Lafayette. He came the first summer 



138 



George Washington 




Presented to Mount 

Vernon by Edmund 

de Lafayette 

Chair from Lafay- 
ette s chateau 



after the war and stayed two weeks. 
Lafayette then went to visit the northern 
and eastern states where, 
as Washington wrote to the 
Marchioness de Lafayette, 
he was ''crowned every- 
where with wreaths of love 
and respect." He came 
back to Mount Vernon, and 
spent a few more days 
within its charming circle. 
Then he bade Mrs. Wash- 
ington good-by; but the 
general went with him to Annapolis, as if 
to put off the time of parting. When 
home again, Washington wrote to Lafay- 
ette: "I often asked myself, as our 
carriages separated, whether that was the 
last sight I should ever have of you? 
And though I wished to answer no, my 
fears answered yes. I called to mind the 
days of my youth and found they had 
long since fled to return no more; that I 
was now descending the hill I had been 
fifty-two years in climbing." 



A Virginia Cavalier ijQ 

Between Lafayette's two visits Wash- 
ington had taken his third journey over 
the mountains. He traveled Hke a soldier 
on the frontier, with only an outfit for cook- 
ing and a few stores of food and medicines, 
and a number of fishhooks and lines. He 
must have thought of the young surveyor 
and his party who rode into the valley of 
the Shenandoah thirty-six years before! 

Now as then he saw how near the head- 
waters of the streams flowing into the Ohio 
were to the headwaters of those flowing 
into tlje Potomac and the James ! His mind 
kept turning to the plan of a waterway to 
the Great Lakes. He saw that the hardy 
sons of Virginia who lived on the western 
rivers would have their faces turned 
toward the mouths of the streams by float- 
ing down them to sell the products of their 
labor. In a short time they might become 
drawn away by some hostile government. 

Here was born in the mind of Washing- 
ton the plans for joining the Virginia of 
the James and Potomac with the Virginia 
of the Ohio and the Wabash. 



140 George Washington 

The Confederation Prepares Its 
Own Death 

While the people were fighting for inde- 
pendence they did not have a very strong 
government. Again and again Washing- 
ton had urged Congress to use more power. 
Congress could advise the states what 
they should do, but it could not compel 
them. 

Congress wanted to send the army home 
without paying the men the money it owed 
them. This disturbed them, and all, kinds 
of rumors were running through the army. 
One day Washington received a letter 
which stirred him greatly. It was nothing 
short of a declaration that he ought to be 
made king, and that the author believed 
the army would be glad. Washington 
immediately wrote : * ' I am much at a loss 
to conceive what part of my conduct could 
give encouragement to an address which 
to me seems big with the greatest mischief 
that can befall my country. . . . Let 
me conjure you, then, if you have any 



A Virginia Cavalier 141 

regard for your country, concern for 
yourself or posterity, or respect for me, to 
banish these thoughts from your mind." 
This was a strange letter! Who can think 
of George Washington as a king! 

While the army was in camp on the 
Hudson, at Newburgh, in the last year 
of the war, the soldiers had little to do but 
talk over their wrongs. There were wild 
threats as to what they would do if Con- 
gress dared send part of the army home 
without pay. One day they appointed 
three of their number to go to Congress 
and see to it that a law was passed giving 
them a certain sum of money instead of 
half pay for life, as Congress proposed 
doing. A letter appeared in camp with 
no signature. It was dangerous because 
largely true: "My friends! After seven 
long years your suffering courage has 
conducted the United States through a 
doubtful and bloody war, and peace 
returns to bless whom ?. A country willing 
to redress your wrongs, cherish your 
worth, and regard your services? Or is it 



142 George Washington 

rather a country that tramples on your 
rights, disdains your cries and insults 
your distresses ? If this be your treatment 
while the swords you wear are necessary 
for the defence of America, what have you 
to expect from peace when these very 
swords, the instruments and companions 
of your glory, shall be taken from your 
sides, and no remaining mark of military 
distinction left but your wants, infirmities 
and scars?" 

Washington saw how true it was, but set 
about to break the force of it. He did not 
deny it, but with rare good sense he said 
the proceeding was irregular, and that no 
attention ought to be paid to it. He called 
a meeting of officers to consider the report 
of the men sent to Congress. At the meet- 
ing Washington arose and said, as he put 
on his glasses to read his paper: "I have 
grown gray in your service, and now find 
myself growing blind. As I was among 
the first who embarked in the cause of our 
common country, as I have never left your 
side one moment . . . as I have been the 



A Virginia Cavalier 14J 

constant companion and witness of your 
distresses, and not among the last to feel 
your merits, as my heart has ever expanded 
with joy when I have heard its praises, 
and my indignation has arisen when the 
mouth of detraction has been opened 
against it . . . let me conjure you in 
the name of our common country, as you 
value your own sacred honor, to express 
your utmost horror of the man who wishes 
to overturn the liberties of our country 
and deluge our -rising empire with blood." 
"Happy for America," writes one who 
witnessed the scene, "that she has a 
patriot army, and that Washington is its 
leader." 

Washington Points the Way to a 
Constitution 

When Washington came back to Mount 
Vernon he saw that the Confederation 
could not last long. He sent a letter to 
the governors of the thirteen states urging 
them to favor giving more power to 
Congress. 



144 George Washington 

In 1785 a step was taken toward a 
stronger government. Virginia and Mary- 
land appointed men to act as commis- 
sioners in making rules for the control 
of commerce on the Chesapeake and 
the Potomac. They met at Alexandria, 
Washington's old town. He gave them a 
hearty invitation to come down to Mount 
Vernon and in a friendly way talk over 
matters. When they came to discuss the 
question, they found that other states 
were interested in the trade on the Chesa- 
peake and the Potomac. These men 
went home feeling that a great convention 
must be called to talk over the question 
of rules governing commerce. The com- 
missioners from Maryland advised that 
a great national convention of states be 
held. Virginia took it up and sent out a 
call for all the states to send delegates to 
a meeting at Annapolis in 1786. 

Only five states were represented at 
Annapolis — Virginia, Pennsylvania, Dela- 
ware, New Jersey, and New York. When 
the men from these five states met, they 




In the National Museum, Washinston 



A Virginia Cavalier 14^ 

saw very clearly that they could not make 
rules for trade without delegates from the 
other nine states. 
They resolved to 
call another con- 
vention to meet 
in Philadelphia 

• Q 4- 'P In tue iNational iviuseum, Washinsto 

m 1707 ^^ see 11 PortfoUo on which Washington 

they could not ""'''' dispatches durtng the war 

change the Articles of Confederation. 

Washington now saw the way to a 
stronger union. But not everybody saw 
this so clearly. Congress itself was not 
pleased, and the New England States 
refused to send delegates to Philadelphia. 

Presently occurred one of those terrible 
events which Washington had foretold. 
Daniel Shays, the leader, and hundreds 
of other armed men in Massachusetts, 
decided to take matters into their own 
hands and free themselves from paying 
debts. They burned and plundered at 
will, and lived off the land like a hostile 
army. The state sent armed troops 
against them, and a battle took place. 



146 George Washington 

Some of Shays' men were killed, and the 
rest scattered to their homes. 

This bloody affair was enough for New 
England. She sent delegates' to the con- 
vention at Philadelphia, and Congress 
joined in the call for such a meeting. 
Washington wrote to a friend in Congress : 
**You talk, my good sir, of employing 
influence to appease the present troubles 
in Massachusetts. . . . Influence is not 
government. Let us have one by which 
our lives, liberties, and properties will be 
secured, or let us know the worst at once." 

Virginia appointed Washington, Ran- 
dolph, her governor James Madison, and 
George Mason, an old-time neighbor of 
Washington, and one or two others to go 
to Philadelphia. The other states, except 
Rhode Island, sent delegates. The Virgin- 
ians were prompt in reaching Philadelphia. 
This gave Washington time to talk over 
matters with the delegates from the other 
states as they came in. Once in Philadel- 
phia he hastened to call on Benjamin 
Franldin, the most learned man on the 



A Virginia Cavalier 14^ 

continent. Franklin was the oldest man 
in the convention, and Washington paid 
his respects to him not only because he 
was a great man, but because he loved 
him. He first met him at the time of 
Braddock's expedition, and had never 
ceased to admire him. Washington ar- 
rived in Philadelphia amid "shouting 
crowds, with joy bells ringing above his 
head." How easily a man of smaller 
mind and vainer feeling would have 
forgotten Franklin, and have thought only 
of his own greatness! 

Besides Franklin, Pennsylvania sent 
Gouverneur Morris, who made more 
speeches than any one else in the conven- 
tion (and they were good ones, too), 
Robert Morris, the man who had managed 
the money for the war, and James Wilson, 
a Scotchman, who was Professor of Law in 
the University of Pennsylvania. Every one 
of them, too, looked up to Washington as 
the one man in whom they had most faith. 

When enough men had arrived, they met 
in Independence Hall and elected George 



148 George Washington 

Washington as president. No other man 
in the convention could act with so much 
dignity, ease, and self-control. One day 
when the men of the convention were 
disputing whether they should make a new 
Constitution or patch up the old one, 
Washington is reported to have said: 
**It is probable that no plan we propose 
will be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful 
conflict is to be sustained. If, to please 
the people, we offer what we ourselves 
disapprove, how can we afterward defend 
our work? Let us raise a standard to 
which the wise and honest can repair. 
The event is in the hands of God." 

When the convention was not in session 
Washington was talking with other mem- 
bers in favor of the new Constitution. 
For four months the delegates worked 
hard. On the last day of the convention, 
when their work was finished, Benjamin 
Franklin, looking at the back of Washing- 
ton's chair, on which the bright rays of a 
half sun were painted, said : * * I have often 
and often, in the course of the session. 



A Virginia Cavalier 14Q 

looked at that sun behind the president 
without being able to tell whether it was 
rising or setting. At length I have the 
happiness to know it is a rising and not a 
setting sun." 

Washington said that ''the business 
being closed, the members adjourned to 
the city tavern, dined together, and 
took a cordial leave of each other." The 
convention turned over the Constitution 
to Washington. He sent it to the Con- 
gress, then holding its meetings in New 
York. Congress sent the Constitution to 
the different states. Each state was to 
submit it to a convention of its people, 
called to see whether it should be accepted. 

Washington went to Mount Vernon, 
hopeful but doubtful. *'I never saw him 
so keen for anything in my life as he is 
for the adoption of the new scheme of 
government," wrote a friend about Wash- 
ington. Washington wrote to his friend, 
Patrick Henry, who was the great opposer 
of the Constitution: "I wish the Consti- 
tution which is offered had been more 

11 



1^0 George Washington 

perfect, but I sincerely believe it is the 
best that could be obtained at this time, 
and as a constitutional door is opened for 
amendment hereafter, the adoption of it 
. . . is in my opinion desirable." 

Washington must have been delighted 
when Pennsylvania, one of the large 
states, voted in the convention two to one 
in favor of the Constitution. Little Dela- 
ware, however, was not to be beaten by 
Pennsylvania, for she held her convention 
and voted unanimously for the Constitu- 
tion before Pennsylvania did. 

The campaign in Maryland was hot, 
and Washington, living on the other side 
of the Potomac, was interested and wrote 
letters to Maryland to help in the good 
cause. He was filled with joy when he 
heard that Maryland, too, had voted for 
the "New Roof." 

The campaign in Massachusetts was a 
hard one. Both the friends and the 
enemies of the Constitution wrote to 
Virginia for aid. Washington sent argu- 
ments in favor of the Constitution, but he 



A Virginia Cavalier iji 

did not get much encouragement. When 
the vote was finally taken, and it was 
found that out of three hundred fifty votes 
the Constitution had a majority of twenty, 
Washington was indeed happy. 

Virginia did not call a convention until 
June, 1788. Washington did not go to 
the meeting, but he did everything in 
his power to have Virginia ratify the 
Constitution. James Madison was its 
greatest defender, and 'Patrick Henry, 
"the Orator of the Revolution," its great- 
est opponent. They debated for many 
days, but when the convention came to 
vote, it had twenty-three more votes for 
the Constitution than against it. Vir- 
ginia's vote made sure that the **New 
Roof" would go into effect. 

There was one more chance of defeat. 
What if the enemies of the Constitution 
should elect representatives and senators 
opposed to the new Constitution? Wash- 
ington therefore urged upon the people to 
see to it that friends of the new govern- 
ment were elected. He did not want to 



ij2 George Washington 

run any risk with the men who were 
to put it into operation. 

One thing more was necessary. The 
people thought of Washington as the only 
man for the first president of the new 
republic! "We cannot, sir, do without 
you," said Governor Johnson of Maryland. 
"I and thousands more can explain to 
anybody but yourself why we cannot 
do without you." But Washington did 
not want to be president. He wanted only 
the quiet life of a Virginia farmer. He 
pleaded old age, and lack of ability, but 
in vain. The people would have him. 

Washington surrendered. The votes of 
the electoral college were all cast for him 
to be the first President of the United 
States. When the secretary of Congress 
reached Mount Vernon he found Wash- 
ington ready to obey the call, after a short 
visit to his mother. It was a tender 
farewell, and with a hearty Godspeed and 
a mother's prayer Washington rode back 
to Mount Vernon. He writes sadly: 
"About ten o'clock I bade adieu to Mount 



A Virginia Cavalier i^j 

Vernon, to private life, and to domestic 
felicity." 

The first part of the trip was the hardest. 
The people of Alexandria, his home town, 
gave him a dinner. The mayor spoke 
the sentiment in every breast when he 
declared that Washington was the first 
and best citizen, the ornament of the age, 
and the model for the young. These 
words touched him deeply, and he could 
only say that he would '* commit himself 
and them to a kind Providence who on a 
former occasion brought us together after 
a long and distressing separation." 

At Baltimore cannon thundered his 
coming. When Pennsylvania was reached, 
the governor, accompanied by a civil and 
a military body, came to prepare him for 
entrance into Philadelphia. 

At Trenton, the place of one of his 
greatest military triumphs, he met a 
scene that touched the hero's heart. 
Sunshine, an arch of triumph, young girls 
walking before him strewing flowers and 
singing, made a pretty picture. The arch 




Washington met by his neighbors on the way to the inauguration 



A Virginia Cavalier ijj 

bore the inscription: "The defender of 
the mothers will be the protector of the 
daughters." 

When Washington reached Elizabeth- 
town Point a committee of Congress came 
to welcome him. He went on board a 
splendid barge manned by thirteen pilots 
in white uniforms. The procession swept 
up the bay to the strains of a band of music. 
The ships at anchor in the harbor fired 
salutes as the procession passed. The 
bells of the city rang, cannon fired salutes, 
and the people who lined the wharves 
shouted welcomes. Governor Clinton, 
General Knox, and many other old soldiers 
were there to greet him. Dressed in his 
suit of buff and blue, he marched along 
the streets followed by a line of the civil 
and military people. The streets were 
crow^ded. The houses were covered with 
flags and hung with evergreens. Banners 
bore the name of Washington. 

When inauguration day came there 
was another great procession, which took 
Washington to the hall where sat the 



156 



George Washington 




Chair used by Wash 

iyiglon at his 

inauguration 



Senate. All was ready for him to take 
the oath of office. As he went forward 
to the balcony the people 
set up a mighty shouting 
and clapping. Chancellor 
Livingstone came forward 
to give him the oath, when 
Washington kissed the Bible 
which lay on a stand cov- 
ered with crimson velvet. 
After the oath Livingstone 
waved his hand toward the 
people and shouted: "Long live George 
Washington, President of the United 
States!" A flag was unfurled, cannons 
were fired, bells rang out 
a glad peal, and people 
in the streets, in the win- 
dows, and on the house- 
tops shouted for joy. 

Washington went into 
the Senate chamber and 
there read a paper called ,^ ^^^,. „, ^,^,^ ^„,. 

• 111 lection, Washington 

an maugural address. Evegiasses given 

There stood about him a '""i^lfi;^: '' 




A Virginia Cavalier 



157 




From photograph 
in Library of Congress 

State coach used by Washington 
while he was president 



body of friends. His hand and his 
voice trembled as he read to them. He 
was not so certain 



of things. No one 
had gone before 
him, and blazed 
the path he was 
to tread. Before 
this time all the 
nations had kings 
or emperors. Washington had no guides 
to show him the way. "I walk," he said, 
' ' on untrodden ground . ' ' Therefore in the 
last words of the inaugural speech he ap- 
pealed to the protection of that kindly 
Providence that seemed to have watched 
over the republic from the beginning. 

Washington, as president, was anxious 
that the new government should succeed. 
He chose Thomas Jefferson as secretary 
of state to look after the affairs of the 
United States and foreign nations. It 
was a wise choice, for Jefferson had not 
only written the Declaration of Independ- 
ence but had been governor of Virginia and 



1^8 George Washington 

our minister to France at the close of the 
war. Hamilton, who had been captain of 
artillery, a general on Washington's staff, 
one of the great men in the convention of 
1787, was selected to be secretary of the 
treasury. General Knox, one of Wash- 
ington's best men in the Revolutionary 
War, was chosen secretary of war and 
the navy. With Governor Randolph 
chosen to give advice on questions of law, 
the presidential machinery of government 
may be said to have been in running order. 

Washington was most anxious to have 
wise laws passed, and James Madison, 
called the "Father of the Constitution," 
was one of the most active men in that 
body. He talked with Madison about 
making certain changes in the new Con- 
stitution. These changes were made, and 
are found in the Constitution as the first 
ten amendments. 

When the government was well under 
way and the cool days of October came, 
Washington made a journey to the New 
England States. On this trip the question 



A Virginia Cavalier 



159 




In Governor's Room, 
City Hall, New York 

Desk used by President Washington 



arose : ** Who shall be first in social affairs, 
the president or the governor? " It is said 
that famous 
John Hancock, 
governor of 
Massachusetts 
raised the 
question when 
Washington 
was in Boston. 
Hancock 
thought the president ought to call on the 
governor. This was a greater question 
than it seems. Had the president called 
first, people all over the country would 
have said : * ' President Washington shows 
by calling on Hancock first that he thinks 
the state governments are of more impor- 
tance than the national government." 
President Washington did not think so, 
and he did not wish to appear to act so. 
When the war ended the army was in 
large part disbanded so that for defense 
against the Indians in the west but a small 
part remained, under the command of 



i6o 



George Washington 



General Josiah Harmer. The Miami 
Indians had risen against the settlers and 

General Har- 



___-Typ.^=.-^ mer, with reg- 
^^o1^3 ^1^1* troops 




In Governor's Room, City Hall, New York 



and militia, 
had crossed 
the Ohio but 
had been 

Table used by President Washington driven baolc 

by the Indians with frightful slaughter. 
President Washington then sent Gen- 
eral St. Clair with a larger army 
into the Indian regions. Just at sunrise 
the Indians ambushed his army and 
drove its broken fragments back upon the 
forts he had built. Six hundred men were 
killed. Washington now chose the right 
man — ' ' Mad Anthony" Wayne — who 
completely defeated the Indians in the 
battle of "Fallen Timber." So great was 
the Indian fear of him that they believed 
every word when he told them he would 
rise out of his grave to punish them if they 
ever violated the treaty they had made. 



A Virginia Cavalier i6i 

Secretary Hamilton, by means of a 
tariff and a tax on whisky, raised money 
to provide for the payment of the Revolu- 
tionary debts. One measure — the pay- 
ment of the war debts of the states — did 
not pass. Congress at the same time could 
not agree where the capital of the United 
States should be located. Jefferson and 
Hamilton put their heads together. The 
result was that southern votes carried 
Hamilton's bill and northern votes located 
the capital in Philadelphia for ten years 
and after that on the Potomac. 

Foreign Relations 

Great Britain had been ugly in her 
treatment of America since the Revolu- 
tion. Some people wanted to go to war, 
but Washington saw that the nation was 
yet too young. He sent John Jay to 
make a treaty. The Jay treaty was very 
unpopular, and Hamilton was stoned in 
New York for defending it. Washington 
was also blamed for the treaty. 

Meantime the French Revolution had 



i62 George Washington 

been coming on. The Americans took the 
French side against England. Would not 
America aid her old friend? Washington 
said '*No," and his secretaries agreed with 
him. He published a letter telling the 
people that it was best for us to keep out of 
European troubles. 

Washington's Farewell 

The times were improving in 1796. 
Jay's treaty had turned out better than 
the people thought it would, and com- 
merce and trade were springing up all 
over the nation. The eight years of 
Washington's presidency were drawing to 
a close. He had guided the ship of state 
over the rough sea of party quarrels; he 
was weary of the burden of office, and 
decided that he would not accept the 
presidency again. 

A large majority, remembering his great 
service as a soldier, his noble sacrifices, and 
work in helping the nation through its 
first days, wanted him to be president 
again. But he steadily refused, and in 



A Virginia Cavalier 



163 



September, 1796, he sent forth his "Fare- 
well Address to the American People." 
Washington said it was 
advice given to the com- 
mon people, which he hoped 
they would take to heart. 
He urged thern jealously to 
guard every tie that binds 
the people together. He 
told them to beware of be- 
ing mere party men. Party 
spirit was a poison that all 
men who loved their coun- 




In National Museum, 
Washington 



try ought to put away. It ^T.'!:S ti^^JT" 
was to the people's inter- '"t^^S'^ar/-''' 

, , 1 1 • • J "Well speech 

ests to make religion, edu- 
cation, and good faith their guides in pro- 
moting the general welfare. He urged them 
to resist foreign influence, and not to 
permit the nation to . be drawn into 
European quarrels. This paper has been 
read and reread by thousands upon 
thousands, and will for ages be read by 
thousands more. Every person who looks 
into it with a fair mind will find it contains 



164 George Washington 

some of the wisest advice on political 
affairs ever penned. 

On the 3d of March he gave a farewell 
dinner to President Adams, Vice-Pres- 
ident Jefferson, and other distinguished 
people. Many ladies were present. At 
the close, Washington filled his glass and 
said: ''Ladies and gentlemen, this is the 
last time I shall drink your health as a 
public man. I do it with sincerity, wishing 
you all possible happiness." 

The inauguration of the new president 
came. A vast crowd gathered to witness 
the event, as it was supposed, but they 
really came to catch a last glimpse of 
Washington. All eyes were on the out- 
going and none upon the incoming pres- 
ident. When Washington came into the 
hall he was received with cheers and 
shouts, and the waving of handkerchiefs. 

After the services were over, there was 
a rush from the galleries into the street 
to see him. He took off his hat and 
bowed to them, but still the great crowd 
moved after him, going as one man, in 




12 



/^ 



1 66 George Washington 

total silence, to his very door. Here he 
turned about, and looked upon that great 
throng of unknown friends. He waved 
them a final farewell. "No man ever 
saw him so moved." Tears rolled down 
his cheeks. Some people in that mighty 
crowd broke down and cried. They had 
seen Washington for the last time. 

That night the merchants of Philadelphia 
gave Washington a banquet. As he came 
in, the band played ''Washington's 
March." In every way these men who 
owed so much to Washington gave proof 
of their admiration for him. 

He was anxious to get back to Mount 
Vernon. He loved it for w^hat it contained, 
and for the memories that clustered about 
it. But his carriage stopped at Baltimore. 
A great crowd on foot and horseback 
greeted him. With Washington were Mrs. 
Washington, Miss Custis, and one of the 
sons of his beloved friend Lafayette. 
On the morrow they pushed forward to 
Mount Vernon, with pleasant sounds of 
hurrahs ringing in their ears. 




MARTHA WASHINGTON 



A Virginia Cavalier 



i6y 



At Home Once More 

But no more is it the Mount Vernon of 
his early married days. Too many events 
'have occurred there, and in the noble 




In Mount Vernon collection 
Washington s flute and Miss Custis' harpsichord 

young nation whose infancy Washington 
watched over, to make it seem the old 
place of days long since gone. Some 
things recalled to Washington and Mrs. 
Washington those bright, happy days. 
There was the love-making and marriage 
of Miss Nellie Custis and W^ashington's 



i68 



George Washington 



nephew. Again, came the care of Mrs. 
Washington's grandchildren. Washing- 
ton seemed gentler and kinder to the 
children than before. He took more 
pleasure in their play and pastimes than 
ever before. He planned very carefully 
for their education, and in every way 
showed as much affection for them as if 
they had been his own. 

Washington found that Mount Vernon 
was *'run down" by his eight years of 
absence. Buildings were in decay, the 
garden had lost some of its beauty, and the 
fields did not yield as much as formerly. 







Jn the garden at Mount Vernon 



A Virginia Cavalier 



log 




In National Museum 
Part of teaset presented by 
Lafayette to Mrs. Washington 



Just as when he took command of the 
army in 1775 he refused any pay, so 
during his time in the pres- 
idency he refused to receive 
a single cent for his services. 
This resolution cost him a 
large sum, for he 
had to sell many 
hundred acres of 
his land in order to 
pay the expenses 
of the presidency. 
No nobler self-sacrifice is known than that 
of Washington, living for sixteen years not 
upon his salary but upon his own private 
fortune. 

His letters to friends in this country and 
in Europe are full of joy over his leaving 
politics to other people, and of his great 
satisfaction at being once more at Mount 
Vernon. He speaks of his pleasure at 
mounting his horse and riding over the 
fields, as he had years before. 

Many things spoke to Washington of 
the days long gone. He had a glimpse of 




lyo George Washington 

Belvoir. There rushed over his memory 
the gay scenes of the past — of dances, 
fox hunting, and of stateHer times 
when the great EngHsh warship 
sailed up the Potomac and cast 
anchor near Belvoir. He wrote to 
Mrs. Fairfax in England: *'It is a 
matter of sore regret when I cast 
my eyes toward Belvoir, which I 
often do . . . and the scenes can 
only be viewed as mementoes of 
former pleasures." 

The coming of strangers and 
friends to visit Washington w^as a 
great tax upon him. He gave each 
some part of his time. But it was 
time Mount Vernon sorely needed. 
stale Li'b'rary Old soMlcrs fouud a Warm greet- 
pyfsented to i^§- Fricuds had a chance to shake 
washinsion j^-g ^^^^ Statcsmcu had an 

opportunity to consult him. All this was 
a great expense to Washington. He lived 
nine miles from Alexandria. Most of the 
visitors, with their horses, stayed all night, 
and some remained for several days. 



A Virginia Cavalier lyi 

So the busy, happy years flew by. One 
day Washington put on his greatcoat and 
went out to see how things were getting 
on. There was rain and sleet. Wash- 
ington's head got wet, and shortly he 
complained of sore throat. His throat 
grew worse, and he sent for his old friend. 
Dr. Craik, then at Alexandria. In the 
meantime he insisted that one of his men 
should bleed him — a very common prac- 
tice at that time. This was done, but 
when the doctor came he was beyond 
relief. He died quietly. Mrs. Washing- 
ton said, "All is now over; I shall soon 
follow him." 

The funeral was the simple testimony of 
friends and relations. The people of the 
neighborhood came on the day of the 
burial. The officers of the town of 
Alexandria were there, attended by the 
militia and the order of Masons. Eleven 
pieces of cannon arrived, and a vessel was 
stationed near Mount Vernon, on the 
Potomac, to fire minute guns. 

Besides those who took part in the 



lyz George Washington 

procession there was his warhorse, saddled 
and wearing holsters and pistols, led by two 
negroes — silent, dumb testimony of his 
greatness. Besides the relatives, the chief 
mourners were Dr. Craik and some of 
the Fairfaxes who had remained in Amer- 
ica, — a simple burial, much in keeping with 
his desires. 

The people of the United States mourned 
for Washington as for a father. Their 
grief was heartfelt and deep. "Men car- 
ried it home with them to their firesides 
and to their churches, to their offices and 
to their workshops." All over the land — 
in the country, the village, and the city — 
the preacher and the orator made his 
name and character the text for a sermon 
or the subject of his noblest oration. 
Washington's friend, Henry Lee, declared 
in a great oration that he was ''first in 
war, first in peace, and first in the hearts 
of his countrymen." 

The faultfinder hid his head and hushed 
his words. Congress adjourned immedi- 
ately out of respect. When it met again, a 




A Virginia Cavalier lyj 

committee was appointed to provide some 
testimony worthy of Washington. 

At the time of 
his death, it is said 
that even the British 
war fleet, in great 
numbers, which lay 
watching the coast 
of France, lowered 
flags at half-mast as 
a token of respect. 

-rj\ j."L, 4. J In collection of Samuel Powell, EFin. 

rrOm tnat aay on sUhouette of Washington taken 

few EngHshmen have " ''"'' ''""' ''^''' '" ''"'' 
spoken of Washington but to praise him, 
and one of their poets gave voice to the 
words : 

''The first, the last, the best. 
The Cincinnatus of the West." 
It was a great day in France. Napoleon 
had ordered that Paris celebrate the' 
plunder he got when he invaded Egypt. 
But it was a day of mourning, too, for all 
the flags and banners were hung with 
black. A great many people, after the 
procession was over, went to the temple 



174 



George Washington 




In Alexandria collection 
Washington'' s bed- 
room clock 



of war and heard an eloquent funeral 
oration on the death of Washington. 
Napoleon commanded 
that a statue of Wash- 
ington be set up in one 
of the squares of Paris. 
The great monument 
that stands in Washington 
city is a noble testimonial 
of a nation's affection. 
It is more, for each nation gave a stone 
to help build it. These stones came from 
the most distant countries — from Brazil, 
Turkey, Japan, Siam, India, and China. 

To obtain a genuine impression of Wash- 
ington a visit to Mount Vernon is far bet- 
ter than to see bust or monument. There 
stands the home, with its kitchen, smoke- 
house, and other buildings just as the 
master left them. In the ''great house" 
are the rooms, with the furniture and 
other belongings kept almost the same as 
in Washington's day. 

From the house a winding pathway 
leads down to the tomb of the Washington 



A Virginia Cavalier ij^ 

family. As you visit this hallowed place, 
remember that here in 1824 Lafayette, 
an old man, came to do homage to the 
name of Washington. 

Standing by his tomb, or wandering over 
the grounds which Washington himself 
cared for, you seem carried back to those 
old days when George and Martha Wash- 
ington came to Mount Vernon to begin 
their married life together. 



A Chronology of the Life of 
George Washington 

DATE EVENT 

1732 February 22, George Washington born in West- 
moreland County, Virginia, near the banks 
of the Potomac River. 

1733- Family moved to the farm now known as 

1734 Mount Vernon. 

1743 April 12, Death of Augustus Washington. 

1743 George sent to live with his half-brother at his 
birthplace. 

1743- Mansion built and named Mount Vernon, 

1745 by his half-brother Lawrence. 

1745 He returned to live with his mother at Fred- 

ericksburg. Goes to school. 

1746 At his mother's request gave up the idea of 

entering the navy. 

1 747 Left school to live with his half-brother Lawrence 

at Mount Vernon. 

1748 March 11, Became surveyor for Lord Fairfax. 

1749 Appointed public surveyor. 

1 75 1 Military inspector with the rank of major to 
protect Virginia frontier against French and 
Indians. 

1 75 1 September ^ Sailed with his invalid brother 

Lawrence to Barbadoes. 

1752 Adjutant-general. September 26, Mount Ver- 

non left him by Lawrence. 

1753 Sent by Governor Dinwiddie as agent to warn 

the French to leave their new posts on the 
Ohio, in western Pennsylvania. Venango; 
Duquesne. Journal of his mission published. 

1754 Appointed lieutenant-colonel of a Virginia 

regiment. Defeated French and Indians at 
Great Meadows. Attacked at Jumonville and 
surrendered at Fort Necessity. Ill health. 
Sojourns at Mount Vernon. 

176 



A Virginia Cavalier lyy 



1755 Aide-de-camp to General Braddock. Com- 

mander in chief of the Virginia forces. 

1756 Mihtary mission to New York and Boston. 

1758 Again suffers from ill health. Courtship. 

March to the Ohio. Retired from the army. 
Elected to the House of Burgesses. 

1759 January 6, Married to Martha (Dandridge) 

Custis at White House, Virginia. May, 
Took seat in House of Burgesses. 
1765 Commissioner for settling the military accounts 
of the colony. 

1769 Disapproved Stamp Acts. 

1770 Journey to the Ohio and Kanawha rivers. 

1773 "Patty" Custis died. Approved Committee of 

Correspondence. 

1774 Took part in meeting at the Raleigh Tavern after 

adjournment by Governor Dunmore. Ap- 
pointed by the Virginia Convention a delegate 
to the first "Continental Congress on the points 
at issue between England and the colonies. 
Beginning of his national career. 

1775 May 10, Member of the Second Continental 

Congress. June 15, Chosen commander in 
chief of the Continental army. July j , Took 
command of the army at Cambridge. Siege 
of Boston. September, Arnold sent to 
Canada. 

1776 March 5, Occupied Dorchester Heights. March 

I/, Drove the British out of Boston. April 
4, Left Boston for New York. August 27, 
Battle of Long Island. September, Affair at 
Kip's Bay and Battle of Harlem Plains. 
October 28, Battle of White Plains. November, 
Loss of forts Lee and Washington. Retreat 
through the Jerseys. December 26, Battle of 
Trenton. December 27, Invested by Congress 
with dictatorial powers. Received LL.D. 
from Harvard College. 

1777 /onwary J, Battle of Princeton. January-May, 

Winter quarters at Morristown. Moved 



I'/ 8 George Washington 



toward Philadelphia to meet Howe. Septem- 
ber II, Battle of Brandywine. October 4, 
Battle of Germantown. October 16, Surrender 
of Burgoyne. 

1778 Winter quarters at Valley Forge. "Conway's 

Cabal." June, British evacuated Philadel- 
phia. June 28, Battle of Monmouth Court- 
house. July, Arrival of D'Estaing's fleet. 
Failure of Rhode Island campaign. Winter 
quarters at Middlebrook. 

1779 July 16, Capture of Stony Point. Sullivan sent 

to Indian country. October, Lincoln sur- 
rendered Savannah. Spent winter at Morris- 
town. 

1780 July, Rochambeau arrived at Newport. 

August, Gates defeated at Camden. Arnold's 
treason. Winter quarters at Tappan. 

1781 January, Pennsylvania troops mutiny. May, 

Met Rochambeau at Wethersfield, Connec- 
ticut. June, With the army before New 
York. August, Marched with the French for 
Virginia. October ig, Surrender of Corn- 
wallis at Yorktown. 

1782 Threatening sedition of the army and talk of 

a dictator. April, At Newburg, New York. 
November, Provisional Treaty of Peace. 

1783 April iQ, Peace proclaimed to the army. June 

18, Circular letter to the governors of the 
several states. September, Definitive treaty 
of peace signed. November 2, Washington's 
farewell to his army. December 4, His fare- 
well to his generals. December 2j, He resigned 
his commission at Annapolis. December 24, 
Retired to Mount Vernon. 

1784 Engaged in canal project to connect the Ohio 

with tide -water. 

1786 Annapolis Convention. 

1787 May 14, Delegate to constitutional convention 

at Phi''adelphia; president of the convention. 
September, Signed new constitution. 



A Virginia Cavalier ijg 



1788 Used efforts to secure adoption of constitution 

by the states. 

1789 Declared President of the United States and 

inaugurated April 30 in New York. Journey 
through eastern states, 

1790 Federal city to be on the Potomac. Cabinet 

differences. 

1 79 1 Made tour of the southern states. 

1793 Second time President of the United States. 

Proclamation of neutrality. Recall of Genet, 
minister from France. Jefferson and Hamil- 
ton resign from the cabinet. Edmund 
Randolph Secretary of State. 

1794 Monroe sent to France. Randolph resigns, 

and Timothy Pickering takes his place. 
Jay's treaty. Whisky insurrection in Penn- 
sylvania. 

1796 September 17, Farewell address to the people 

of the United States. 

1797 Home at Mount Vernon. Troubles with France. 

Preparations for war. 

1798 Alien and sedition laws. Virginia and Ken- 

tucky resolutions. July s^ Washington again 
becomes commander in chief of the armies 
of the United States. 

1799 December 24, Died at Mount Vernon. 



A Reading List 



Bolton, (Mrs.) Sarah K. George Washington. (Fa- 
mous American Statesmen.) 1888. 

Carrington, Henry B. Washington the Soldier. 
Boston. 1898. 

Hapgood, Norman. George Washington. New York. 
1901. 

Harrison, James A. George Washington, Patriot, 
Soldier, Statesman, First President of the United 
States. New York: C. P. Putnam's Sons. 
1906. 

Herbert, Leila. The First American, His Homes and 
His Households. New York. 1900. 

Hill, Frederick Trevor. On the Trail of Washing- 
ton. A narrative history of Washington's boyhood 
and manhood, based on his own writings, authen- 
tic documents, and other authoritative informa- 
tion. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1900. 

Lodge, Henry Cabot. George Washington. (2 vols.) 
Boston. 1890. 

Lord, John. George Washington. (Beacon Lights of 
History.) 1894. 

Mitchell, Silas Weir. The Youth of Washington. 
New York: The Century Company. 1904. 

Seelye, (Mrs.) Elizabeth E. The Story of Washing- 
ton. Ed. with an introduction by E. Eggleston. 
New York. 1893. 

Taylor, Edward M. George Washington, the Ideal 
Patriot. With introduction by E. E. Hale. 
Cincinnati. 1897. 

Wilson, Woodrow. George Washington. New York. 
1897. 

Wister, Owen. The Seven Ages of Washington. A 
biography. New York: The Macmillan Com- 
pany. 1907. 



180 



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